Sketch entry and interpretation of graphical user interface design

ABSTRACT

An apparatus includes a processor to employ a neural network to interpret sketch input to identify an object token that represents a command to display either details of an object or a list of objects on a specified page of a GUI. In response to identifying the object token, the processor is caused to generate GUI instructions to perform the command, and employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch input to identify text specifying a page of the GUI on which to perform the command In response to identifying the text specifying the page, the processor is caused to incorporate an indication of the page into the GUI instructions, augment a job flow definition with the GUI instructions, and store the job flow definition within a federated area in support of providing the GUI when the job flow of the job flow definition is performed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/897,723 filed Feb. 15, 2018; which is a continuation-in-part of, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/896,613 filed Feb. 14, 2018 (since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,002,029); which is a continuation-in-part of, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/851,869 filed Dec. 22, 2017 (since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,078,710); which is a continuation of, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/613,516 filed Jun. 5, 2017 (since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,852,013); which is a continuation of, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/425,886 filed Feb. 6, 2017 (since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,684,544); which is a continuation of, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/425,749 also filed on Feb. 6, 2017 (since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,864,543); all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their respective entireties for all purposes.

This application also claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/631,462 filed Feb. 15, 2018, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/896,613 also claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/460,000 filed Feb. 16, 2017, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/425,749 also claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/292,078 filed Feb. 5, 2016, and to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/297,454 filed Feb. 19, 2016, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their respective entireties for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

It has become common practice for many current day application programs to incorporate a graphical user interface (GUI) component to provide an easier and more intuitive form of interaction with users. However, just as various specialized application programming interfaces (APIs) must be learned and used to write code that performs database operations, complex mathematical calculations, process control operations, coordination of distributed processing operations, etc., the writing of computer code to provide a GUI frequently requires learning and using a dedicated GUI programming interface. Thus, providing the ability to design and incorporate a GUI into an application program without requiring such particular skills has become desirable.

It has become common practice to employ relatively large scale distributed processing to perform complex calculations with large data sets in a manner in which data sets are broken up into smaller portions that are distributed among many computing devices and/or processing cores. However, the work of writing computer code of an analysis routine in a manner that is tailored for such distributed processing requires particular programming skills that are not widely shared. Further, many analysis routines are generated as part of the content of a spreadsheet data structure in which data may be provided therein within one or more data tables, and the analysis to be performed is specified as a set of formulae within one or more formula tables. Such a manner of representing an analysis routine is intended to be very user friendly to users who lack programming skills. Thus, providing the ability to convert such a data structure into a set of objects that better accommodate the use of complex distributed processing has become desirable.

Distributed development of task routines and the performance of analysis tasks using pooled task routines with pooled data has advanced to an extent that the addition of mechanisms for organization of development and to provide oversight for reproducibility and accountability have become increasingly desired. In various scientific, technical and other areas, the quantities of data employed in performing analysis tasks have become ever larger, thereby making desirable the pooling of data objects to enable collaboration, share costs and/or improve access. Also, such large quantities of data, by virtue of the amount and detail of the information they contain, have become of such value that it has become desirable to find as many uses as possible for such data in peer reviewing and in as wide a variety of analysis tasks. Thus, the pooling of components of analysis routines to enable reuse, oversight and error checking has also become desirable.

SUMMARY

This summary is not intended to identify only key or essential features of the described subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the described subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of this patent, any or all drawings, and each claim.

An apparatus includes a processor and a storage to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including: receive first sketch input from an input device, and employ a neural network to interpret sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify, from among a set of visual tokens, a first visual token represented by the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network is trained to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input to at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; the set of visual tokens comprises at least one object token that represents either a command to display details of an object of a set of objects on a specified page of a graphical user interface (GUI) that is provided during a performance of a job flow, or a command to display a list of objects within the set of objects on a specified page of the GUI; the set of objects comprises a job flow definition that defines the job flow, at least one task routine that is executed during a performance of the job flow, and at least one data object; and the set of objects is stored within at least one federated area maintained within one or more storage devices, and to which access is authorized during the performance of the job flow. In response to the identification, by the neural network, of the first visual token as a first object token within the set of visual tokens, perform operations including: generate first GUI instructions to perform a command correlated by the neural network to the first object token; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command is to be performed as part of performing the job flow; in response to identification, by the neural network, of text that specifies the page, incorporate an indication of the page as associated with the first object token into the first GUI instructions; augment the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and store the job flow definition, following augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions, within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the job flow definition with the first GUI instructions in support of the performance of the job flow and the provision of the GUI.

A display to visually present the first sketch input may be co-located with the input device, and the processor may be caused to perform operations including: visually present portions of a first sketch based on the first sketch input at a first location on the display as corresponding portions of the first sketch input are received from the input device to provide visual feedback of the first sketch input to an operator as the operator provides the first sketch input to the input device; and following identification of at least the first visual token by the neural network, cease the visual presentation of the first sketch on the display, and visually present a graphical rendering of the first visual token in place of the first sketch at the first location to provide a visual indication to the operator of successful identification of the first visual token.

The processor may be further caused to perform operations including: place the neural network into a training mode to refine the training of the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input of a selected operator to the at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; receive second sketch input that originates from the selected operator; train the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of the second sketch input to a selected second visual token of the set of visual tokens; and store, after completion of the training mode, neural network configuration data that defines the neural network within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the neural network configuration data in support of employing the neural network to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input, wherein the neural network configuration data specifies a hyperparameter comprising at least one of a quantity of artificial neurons within the neural network or a quantity of rows of the artificial neurons into which the artificial neurons are organized within the neural network, and the neural network configuration data also specifies a trained parameter comprising at least one of weight values of the artificial neurons, bias values of the artificial neurons or firing patterns of the artificial neurons.

The input device may capture the entry of the first sketch input as an image of the first sketch input, the processor may be caused to provide the image of the first sketch input as an input to the neural network, and the neural network may include a convolution neural network that employs visual recognition to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input.

The input device may include a pressure sensor to detect an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input, or a touch sensor to detect a location of a tip of a stylus or a tip of a digit of an operator during entry of the first sketch input. The characteristics of the first sketch input include at least one of: an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a pattern of change in the amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a velocity of movement of a point of contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input; an angle of a change in direction of movement of the point of contact during entry of the first sketch input; or a break in contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to a lack of identification of text that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command represented by the first object token is to be performed, to perform operations including: identify, on a display that is co-located with the input device, a second object token that is visually presented at a second location on the display closest to a first location at which the first object token is visually presented, and that is associated with a page of the GUI on which a command represented by the second object token is to be performed; and incorporate, into the first GUI instructions, an indication that the page that is associated with the second object token is also associated with the first object token.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, to perform operations including: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the sketch input that identifies the job flow definition or that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition; and in response to identification of text that identifies the job flow definition, retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions. The processor may also be caused, in response to identification of text that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition, to perform operations including: retrieve the instance log from a federated area of the one or more federated areas; retrieve an identifier of the job flow definition from the instance log; and retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display details of a specific object, to perform operations including: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the specific object; and in response to identification of text that identifies the specific object, incorporate an indication of the specific object into the first GUI instructions prior to the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display a list of objects, to perform operations including: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list; and in response to identification of text that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list, incorporate an indication of the identity of the objects to be displayed in the list or the criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list into the first GUI instructions prior to augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The set of visual tokens may include at least one action token that represents either a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of a specified input, or a command to perform an action defined by an object of the set of objects in response to receipt of specified input. The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as a first action token that represents a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of at least one specified input, to perform operations including: generate second GUI instructions to perform the command represented by the first action token; identify an object token that is at least partially overlain by the first action token on a display that is co-located with the input device and that visually presents the first sketch input; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of a page of the GUI that is associated with the overlain object token as a page of the two specified pages that is jumped from; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies another page of the two specified pages that is jumped to; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of the page that is jumped to; and augment the job flow definition that defines the job flow to include the second GUI instructions.

A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, includes instructions operable to cause a processor to perform operations including: receive first sketch input from an input device, and employ a neural network to interpret sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify, from among a set of visual tokens, a first visual token represented by the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network is trained to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input to at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; the set of visual tokens comprises at least one object token that represents either a command to display details of an object of a set of objects on a specified page of a graphical user interface (GUI) that is provided during a performance of a job flow, or a command to display a list of objects within the set of objects on a specified page of the GUI; the set of objects comprises a job flow definition that defines the job flow, at least one task routine that is executed during a performance of the job flow, and at least one data object; and the set of objects is stored within at least one federated area maintained within one or more storage devices, and to which access is authorized during the performance of the job flow. In response to the identification, by the neural network, of the first visual token as a first object token within the set of visual tokens, the processor is caused to perform operations including: generate first GUI instructions to perform a command correlated by the neural network to the first object token; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command is to be performed as part of performing the job flow; in response to identification, by the neural network, of text that specifies the page, incorporate an indication of the page as associated with the first object token into the first GUI instructions; augment the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and store the job flow definition, following augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions, within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the job flow definition with the first GUI instructions in support of the performance of the job flow and the provision of the GUI.

A display to visually present the first sketch input may be co-located with the input device, and the processor may be caused to perform operations including: visually present portions of a first sketch based on the first sketch input at a first location on the display as corresponding portions of the first sketch input are received from the input device to provide visual feedback of the first sketch input to an operator as the operator provides the first sketch input to the input device; and following identification of at least the first visual token by the neural network, cease the visual presentation of the first sketch on the display, and visually present a graphical rendering of the first visual token in place of the first sketch at the first location to provide a visual indication to the operator of successful identification of the first visual token.

The processor may be caused to perform operations including: place the neural network into a training mode to refine the training of the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input of a selected operator to the at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; receive second sketch input that originates from the selected operator; train the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of the second sketch input to a selected second visual token of the set of visual tokens; and store, after completion of the training mode, neural network configuration data that defines the neural network within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the neural network configuration data in support of employing the neural network to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input, wherein the neural network configuration data specifies a hyperparameter comprising at least one of a quantity of artificial neurons within the neural network or a quantity of rows of the artificial neurons into which the artificial neurons are organized within the neural network, and the neural network configuration data also specifies a trained parameter comprising at least one of weight values of the artificial neurons, bias values of the artificial neurons or firing patterns of the artificial neurons.

The input device may capture the entry of the first sketch input as an image of the first sketch input; the processor may be caused to provide the image of the first sketch input as an input to the neural network; and the neural network may include a convolution neural network that employs visual recognition to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input.

The input device may include a pressure sensor to detect an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input, or a touch sensor to detect a location of a tip of a stylus or a tip of a digit of an operator during entry of the first sketch input. The characteristics of the first sketch input comprise at least one of: an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a pattern of change in the amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a velocity of movement of a point of contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input; an angle of a change in direction of movement of the point of contact during entry of the first sketch input; or a break in contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to a lack of identification of text that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command represented by the first object token is to be performed, to perform operations including: identify, on a display that is co-located with the input device, a second object token that is visually presented at a second location on the display closest to a first location at which the first object token is visually presented, and that is associated with a page of the GUI on which a command represented by the second object token is to be performed; and incorporate, into the first GUI instructions, an indication that the page that is associated with the second object token is also associated with the first object token.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, to perform operations including: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the sketch input that identifies the job flow definition or that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition; and in response to identification of text that identifies the job flow definition, retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions. In response to identification of text that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition, perform operations including: retrieve the instance log from a federated area of the one or more federated areas; retrieve an identifier of the job flow definition from the instance log; and retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display details of a specific object, to perform operations including: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the specific object; and in response to identification of text that identifies the specific object, incorporate an indication of the specific object into the first GUI instructions prior to the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display a list of objects, to perform operations including: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list; and in response to identification of text that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list, incorporate an indication of the identity of the objects to be displayed in the list or the criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list into the first GUI instructions prior to augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The set of visual tokens may include at least one action token that represents either a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of a specified input, or a command to perform an action defined by an object of the set of objects in response to receipt of specified input. The processor may be caused, in response to the identification of the first visual token as a first action token that represents a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of at least one specified input, to perform operations including: generate second GUI instructions to perform the command represented by the first action token; identify an object token that is at least partially overlain by the first action token on a display that is co-located with the input device and that visually presents the first sketch input; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of a page of the GUI that is associated with the overlain object token as a page of the two specified pages that is jumped from; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies another page of the two specified pages that is jumped to; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of the page that is jumped to; and augment the job flow definition that defines the job flow to include the second GUI instructions.

A computer-implemented method includes: receiving, by a processor, first sketch input from an input device, and employing a neural network to interpret sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify, from among a set of visual tokens, a first visual token represented by the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network is trained to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input to at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; the set of visual tokens comprises at least one object token that represents either a command to display details of an object of a set of objects on a specified page of a graphical user interface (GUI) that is provided during a performance of a job flow, or a command to display a list of objects within the set of objects on a specified page of the GUI; the set of objects comprises a job flow definition that defines the job flow, at least one task routine that is executed during a performance of the job flow, and at least one data object; and the set of objects is stored within at least one federated area maintained within one or more storage devices, and to which access is authorized during the performance of the job flow. The method further includes, in response to the identification, by the neural network, of the first visual token as a first object token within the set of visual tokens, performing operations including: generating first GUI instructions to perform a command correlated by the neural network to the first object token; employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command is to be performed as part of performing the job flow; in response to identification, by the neural network, of text that specifies the page, incorporating an indication of the page as associated with the first object token into the first GUI instructions; augmenting the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and storing the job flow definition, following augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions, within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the job flow definition with the first GUI instructions in support of the performance of the job flow and the provision of the GUI.

A display to visually present the first sketch input may be co-located with the input device, and the method may include: visually presenting portions of a first sketch based on the first sketch input at a first location on the display as corresponding portions of the first sketch input are received from the input device to provide visual feedback of the first sketch input to an operator as the operator provides the first sketch input to the input device; and following identification of at least the first visual token by the neural network, ceasing the visual presentation of the first sketch on the display, and visually presenting a graphical rendering of the first visual token in place of the first sketch at the first location to provide a visual indication to the operator of successful identification of the first visual token.

The computer-implemented method may include: placing the neural network into a training mode to refine the training of the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input of a selected operator to the at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; receiving second sketch input that originates from the selected operator; training the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of the second sketch input to a selected second visual token of the set of visual tokens; and storing, after completion of the training mode, neural network configuration data that defines the neural network within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the neural network configuration data in support of employing the neural network to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input, wherein the neural network configuration data specifies a hyperparameter comprising at least one of a quantity of artificial neurons within the neural network or a quantity of rows of the artificial neurons into which the artificial neurons are organized within the neural network, and the neural network configuration data also specifies a trained parameter comprising at least one of weight values of the artificial neurons, bias values of the artificial neurons or firing patterns of the artificial neurons.

The input device may capture the entry of the first sketch input as an image of the first sketch input; the method may include providing the image of the first sketch input as an input to the neural network; and the neural network may include a convolution neural network that employs visual recognition to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input.

The input device may include a pressure sensor to detect an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input, or a touch sensor to detect a location of a tip of a stylus or a tip of a digit of an operator during entry of the first sketch input. The characteristics of the first sketch input include at least one of: an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a pattern of change in the amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a velocity of movement of a point of contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input; an angle of a change in direction of movement of the point of contact during entry of the first sketch input; or a break in contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input.

The method may include, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to a lack of identification of text that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command represented by the first object token is to be performed, performing operations including: identifying, on a display that is co-located with the input device, a second object token that is visually presented at a second location on the display closest to a first location at which the first object token is visually presented, and that is associated with a page of the GUI on which a command represented by the second object token is to be performed; and incorporating, into the first GUI instructions, an indication that the page that is associated with the second object token is also associated with the first object token.

The method may include, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, performing operations including: employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the sketch input that identifies the job flow definition or that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition; and in response to identification of text that identifies the job flow definition, retrieving the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions. The method may also include, in response to identification of text that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition, performing operations including: retrieving the instance log from a federated area of the one or more federated areas; retrieving an identifier of the job flow definition from the instance log; and retrieving the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The method may include, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display details of a specific object, performing operations including: employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the specific object; and in response to identification of text that identifies the specific object, incorporating an indication of the specific object into the first GUI instructions prior to the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The method may include, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display a list of objects, performing operations including: employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list; and in response to identification of text that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list, incorporating an indication of the identity of the objects to be displayed in the list or the criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list into the first GUI instructions prior to augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.

The set of visual tokens may include at least one action token that represents either a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of a specified input, or a command to perform an action defined by an object of the set of objects in response to receipt of specified input. The method may include, in response to the identification of the first visual token as a first action token that represents a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of at least one specified input, performing operations including: generating second GUI instructions to perform the command represented by the first action token; identifying an object token that is at least partially overlain by the first action token on a display that is co-located with the input device and that visually presents the first sketch input; incorporating, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of a page of the GUI that is associated with the overlain object token as a page of the two specified pages that is jumped from; employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies another page of the two specified pages that is jumped to; incorporating, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of the page that is jumped to; and augmenting the job flow definition that defines the job flow to include the second GUI instructions.

The foregoing, together with other features and embodiments, will become more apparent upon referring to the following specification, claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the appended figures:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram that provides an illustration of the hardware components of a computing system, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example network including an example set of devices communicating with each other over an exchange system and via a network, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 3 illustrates a representation of a conceptual model of a communications protocol system, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 4 illustrates a communications grid computing system including a variety of control and worker nodes, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart showing an example process for adjusting a communications grid or a work project in a communications grid after a failure of a node, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 6 illustrates a portion of a communications grid computing system including a control node and a worker node, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart showing an example process for executing a data analysis or processing project, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram including components of an Event Stream Processing Engine (ESPE), according to embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart showing an example process including operations performed by an event stream processing engine, according to some embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 10 illustrates an ESP system interfacing between a publishing device and multiple event subscribing devices, according to embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart showing an example process of generating and using a machine-learning model according to some aspects.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example machine-learning model based on a neural network.

FIGS. 13A and 13B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a distributed processing system.

FIGS. 14A and 14B, together, illustrate an example alternate embodiment of a distributed processing system.

FIGS. 15A, 15B and 15C each illustrate an example hierarchical set of federated areas.

FIGS. 16A, 16B, 16C, 16D and 16E, together, illustrate an example formation of a hierarchical set of federated areas.

FIGS. 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, 17E and 17F, together, illustrate an example of defining and documenting a performance of a job flow.

FIGS. 18A, 18B, 18C, 18D and 18E, together, illustrate an example of a federated device storing and organizing objects in a federated area.

FIGS. 19A and 19B each illustrate an example of organization of object identifiers.

FIGS. 20A and 20B, together, illustrate an example of a federated device retrieving objects from a federated area.

FIGS. 21A, 21B, 21C, 21D and 21E, together, illustrate aspects of the generation and use of a DAG.

FIGS. 22A and 22B each illustrate an example of generation and use of GUI instructions from sketch input.

FIGS. 23A, 23B, 23C, 23D, 23E, 23F and 23G, together, illustrate an example of training a neural network to recognize visual tokens in sketch input.

FIGS. 24A, 24B, 24C, 24D and 24E, together, illustrate an example of use of sketch input to cause immediate command execution in support of generating GUI instructions.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example architecture to support use of sketch input to generate GUI instructions.

FIGS. 26A, 26B, 26C and 26D, together, illustrate an example of generation and use of GUI instructions from sketch input.

FIGS. 27A, 27B and 27C, together, illustrate an example of generation of GUI instructions from sketch input.

FIG. 28 illustrates an example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device adding a requested federated area related to one or more other federated areas.

FIGS. 29A, 29B, 29C, 29D, 29E and 29F, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device storing objects in a federated area.

FIGS. 30A and 30B, together, illustrate another example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device storing objects in a federated area

FIGS. 31A and 31B, together, illustrate still another example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device storing objects in a federated area.

FIGS. 32A, 32B, 32C and 32D, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device deleting objects stored within a federated area.

FIGS. 33A and 33B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device either repeating an earlier performance of a job flow that generated specified result report or instance log, or transmitting objects to enable a requesting device to do so.

FIGS. 34A and 34B, together, illustrate another example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device repeating an earlier performance of a job flow.

FIGS. 35A and 35B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow of a federated device performing a job flow.

FIG. 36 illustrates an example embodiment of a logic flow of training of a neural network to better recognize sketches of visual tokens in sketch input.

FIGS. 37A, 37B, 37C and 37D, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow of a recognition and use of sketches of visual tokens to generate GUI instructions.

FIGS. 38A, 38B and 38C, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow of recognition and use of sketches of visual tokens to perform commands represented thereby.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments described herein are generally directed to techniques for improving accountability, reproducibility and ease of access in the use of pooled data and pooled routines to perform analyses of pooled data. Network accessible gridded storage may be employed to maintain one or more federated areas with controlled access for data objects and task routines where various rules are imposed to provide access security while improving ease of access, and to maintain interoperability while allowing updates to be made. One or more federated devices may provide a portal to control access to data objects and task routines within each of the federated areas, including control over types of accesses made, to prevent unauthorized additions, changes and/or deletions. The one or more federated devices may maintain instance logs that document instances of activities performed with data objects and task routines to provide a reviewable audit trail of the steps in conducting analyses, as well as confirmation of the conditions under which analyses are performed. However, these features of the federated area(s) may be provided by the one or more federated devices in a manner that improves ease of use in both the performance of and subsequent review of complex analyses with large quantities of data.

Various embodiments described herein are also generally directed to techniques for more granular control of access to, and improved collaboration in the development of, pooled data and pooled routines to perform analyses of pooled data. Network accessible gridded storage may be employed to maintain a set of federated areas with a set of defined relationships thereamong that correspond to differing levels of restriction of access and various automated relationships in the handling of objects thereamong. A hierarchy among a set of federated areas may be defined in which there is progressively greater restriction in access from a base federated area with widely granted access to at least one private federated area with greatly restricted access, with one or more intermediate federated areas therebetween with corresponding intermediate levels of granted access. Multiple linear hierarchies of federated areas may be combined to form a tree of federated areas, starting with a base federated area at its root, and in which the branching within the tree through intermediate federated areas and to private federated areas may be defined to correspond to a manner in which collaboration among individuals and/or other entities is overseen and/or controlled.

Various embodiments described herein are also generally directed to techniques for generating and using directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) in the development of task routines to implement tasks and/or job flow definitions that control the use of multiple task routines to perform job flows. A DAG may be generated from comments incorporated into the programming code of one or more task routines that provide a human readable description of at least inputs and/or outputs of each of the one or more task routines. Alternatively or additionally, a DAG may be generated from specifications of at least inputs and/or outputs of each of the one or more tasks that are specified within a job flow definition for a job flow. A DAG may be generated to serve as a visual guide to the functionality and/or interdependencies among the tasks of a job flow and/or among the task routines that are used to perform the tasks of a job flow. Alternatively or additionally, a DAG so generated may be employed by one or more federated devices to guide aspects of the execution of interdependent task routines during the performance of a job flow and/or to provide at least a portion of the definition of a job flow.

Various embodiments described herein are also generally directed to techniques for generating and using GUI instructions incorporated into job flow definitions to provide a job flow GUI for a job flow when the job flow is performed. Such a job flow GUI may provide an easier and more intuitive mechanism by which particular data objects may be specified as inputs to a performance of a job flow and/or by which other needed inputs to the job flow may be provided. Such GUI instructions may be generated from sketch input based on the use of a neural network to identify and interpret various graphical tokens from among a vocabulary of tokens that the neural network is trained to recognize. The neural network may also be trained to recognize at least a subset of text characters that may be employed as identifiers of pages of the GUI, identifiers of specific types of input to which the job flow GUI is to respond, and/or identifiers of specific required objects. Such GUI instructions may specify particular information about one or more objects that is to be displayed on each of one or more GUI pages of the job flow GUI. Alternatively or additionally, such GUI instructions may specify the manner in which one or more objects required for the performance of the job flow are to be selected in response to various specified inputs.

Various embodiments described herein are also generally directed to techniques for the automated generation of various objects required for a performance of a job flow based on aspects of an analysis that are specified in a spreadsheet data structure. Such a data structure may incorporate one or more data tables that may include various pieces of input data that may each be converted into a data object. One or more of such data tables may also include various pieces of data that were generated as outputs of a previous performance of the analysis within a spreadsheet environment and/or other processing environment with which the data structure may be associated. Alternatively or additionally, such a data structure may incorporate one or more formula tables that may specify various calculations to be performed, and that may each be converted into a task to be performed as part of performing the job flow. Such a data structure may also incorporate instructions or other indications of inputs to be requested and/or graphs to be visually presented during a performance of the analysis, and which may be converted into GUI instructions to be incorporated into a job flow definition. As part of such conversion of the contents of such a data structure into objects of such a job flow, a DAG of such a job flow may be generated to provide a visual guide thereof.

More specifically, the storage of objects (e.g., data objects, task routines, job flow definitions, instance logs of performances of analyses, and/or DAGs) may be effected using a grid of storage devices that are coupled to and/or incorporated into one or more federated devices. The grid of storage devices may provide distributed storage for data objects that include large data sets, complex sets of task routines for the performance of various analyses, and/or instance logs that document an extensive history of performances of analyses. Such distributed storage may be used to provide one or both of fault tolerance and/or faster access through the use of parallelism. In various embodiments, the objects stored within a federated area or a set of federated areas may be organized in any of a variety of ways. By way of example, one or more databases may be defined by the one or more federated devices to improve efficiency in accessing data objects, task routines and/or instance logs of performances of analyses.

The one or more federated devices may define at least some of the storage space provided by the storage device grid as providing federated area(s) to which access is controlled by the one or more federated devices (or one or more other devices separately providing access control) in accordance with various rules. By way of example, access to a federated area may be limited to one or more particular authorized persons and/or one or more particular authorized entities (e.g., scholastic entities, governmental entities, business entities, etc.). Alternatively or additionally, access to a federated area may be limited to one or more particular authorized devices that may be operated under the control of one or more particular persons and/or entities. Also by way of example, various aspects of the access provided to a federated area may be controlled, including and not limited to, the selection of objects within a federated area that may be accessed and/or types of activities that may be performed with one or more particular objects to which access may be granted. By way of example, a particular person, entity and/or device may be permitted to access a particular subset of the objects stored within a federated area, and/or may be permitted to employ one or more particular objects in the performance of an analysis, but may not be permitted to alter and/or delete those one or more particular objects.

In some embodiments, the use of a federated area may be limited to the storage and retrieval of objects with controlled access. In such embodiments, the one or more federated devices may provide a portal accessible to other devices via a network for use in storing and retrieving objects associated with the performances of analyses by other devices. More specifically, one or more source devices may access the portal through the network to provide the one or more federated devices with the data objects, task routines, job flow definitions, DAGs and/or instance logs associated with completed performances of analyses by the one or more source devices for storage within one or more federated areas for the purpose of memorializing the details of those performances. Subsequently, one or more reviewing devices may access the portal through the network to retrieve such objects from one or more federated area through the one or more federated devices for the purpose of independently confirming aspects of such the performances.

In other embodiments, the use of at least one federated area may include the performance of analyses by the one or more federated devices using the objects stored therein. In such other embodiments, the one or more federated devices may receive requests from other devices to perform analyses via the portal, and may provide indications of the results of such performances to those other devices via the portal. More specifically, in response to such a request, the one or more federated devices may execute a combination of task routines specified in a job flow definition within a federated area to perform an analysis with one or more data objects, all of which are stored in one or more federated areas. In so doing, the one or more federated devices may generate an instance log for storage within one of the one or more federated area that documents the performances of the analysis, including indications of data objects used and/or generated, indications of task routines executed, and an indication of the job flow definition that specifies the task routines to be executed to perform the analysis. In some of such other embodiments, the one or more federated devices may be nodes of a grid of federated devices across which tasks of a requested performance of an analysis may be distributed. The provision of a grid of the federated devices may make available considerable shared processing and/or storage resources to allow such a grid to itself perform complex analyses of large quantities of data, while still allowing a detailed review of aspects of the performance of that analysis in situations where questions may arise concerning data quality, correctness of assumptions made and/or coding errors.

Among the objects that may be stored in a federated area may be numerous data objects that may include data sets. Each data set may be made up of any of a variety of types of data concerning any of a wide variety of subjects. By way of example, a data set may include scientific observation data concerning geological and/or meteorological events, or from sensors in laboratory experiments in areas such as particle physics. By way of another example, a data set may include indications of activities performed by a random sample of individuals of a population of people in a selected country or municipality, or of a population of a threatened species under study in the wild. By way of still another example, a data set may include data descriptive of a neural network, such as weights and biases of the nodes of a neural network that may have been derived through a training process in which the neural network is trained to perform a function.

Regardless of the types of data each such data set may contain, some data sets stored in a federated area may include data sets employed as inputs to the performance of one or more analyses, and may include data sets provided to the one or more federated devices for storage within a federated area as input data sets. Other data sets stored in a federated area may include data sets that are generated as outputs of the performance of one or more analyses. It should be noted that some data sets that serve as inputs to the performance of one analysis may be generated as an output of an earlier performance of another analysis. Still other data sets may be both generated and used as input during a single performance of an analysis, such as a data set generated by the performance of one task of an analysis for use by one or more other tasks of that same analysis. Such data sets that are both generated and used during a single performance of an analysis may exist only temporarily within a federated area in embodiments in which analyses are performed within federated area(s) by the one or more federated devices. In other embodiments in which analyses are performed by other devices outside of federated area(s), such data sets may not be stored, even temporarily, within a federated area.

One of the rules imposed by the one or more federated devices may be that storage within a federated area of executable instructions for the performance of analysis requires that the analysis itself be defined as a set of tasks that are to be performed in an order defined as a job flow. More precisely, executable instructions for the performance of an analysis may be required to be stored as a set of task routines and a job flow definition that specifies aspects of how the set of task routines are executed together to perform the analysis. In some embodiments, the definition of each task routine may include definitions of the inputs and outputs thereof. In a job flow definition, each task to be performed may be assigned a flow task identifier, and each task routine that is to perform a particular task may be assigned the flow task identifier of that particular task to make each task routine retrievable by the flow task identifier of the task it performs. Thus, each performance of an analysis may entail a parsing of the job flow definition for that analysis to retrieve the flow task identifiers of the tasks to be performed, and may then entail the retrieval of a task routine required to perform each of those tasks.

As will also be explained in greater detail, such breaking up of an analysis into a job flow made up of tasks performed by task routines that are stored in federated area(s) may be relied upon to enable code reuse in which individual task routines may be shared among the job flows of multiple analyses. Such reuse of a task routine originally developed for one analysis by another analysis may be very simply effected by specifying the flow task identifier of the corresponding task in the job flow definition for the other analysis. Additionally, reuse may extend to the job flow definitions, themselves, as the availability of job flow definitions in a federated area may obviate the need to develop of a new analysis routine where there is a job flow definition already available that defines the tasks to be performed in an analysis that may be deemed suitable. Thus, among the objects that may be stored in a federated area may be numerous selectable and reusable task routines and job flow definitions.

In some embodiments, job flow definitions may be stored within federated area(s) as a file or other type of data structure in which a job flow definition is represented as a DAG. Alternatively or additionally, a file or other type of data structure may be used that organizes aspects of a job flow definition in a manner that enables a DAG to be directly derived therefrom. Such a file or data structure may directly indicate an order of performance of tasks, or may specify dependencies between inputs and outputs of each task to enable an order of performance to be derived. By way of example, an array may be used in which there is an entry for each task routine that includes specifications of its inputs, its outputs and/or dependencies on data objects that may be provided as one or more outputs of one or more other task routines. Thus, a DAG may be usable to visually portray the relative order in which specified tasks are to be performed, while still being interpretable by federated devices and/or other devices that may be employed to perform the portrayed analysis. Such a form of a job flow definition may be deemed desirable to enable an efficient presentation of the job flow on a display of a reviewing device as a DAG. Thus, review of aspects of a performance of an analysis may be made easier by such a representation of a job flow.

The tasks that may be performed by any of the numerous tasks routines may include any of a variety of data analysis tasks, including and not limited to searches for one or more particular data items, and/or statistical analyses such as aggregation, identifying and quantifying trends, subsampling, calculating values that characterize at least a subset of the data items within a data object, deriving models, testing hypothesis with such derived models, making predictions, generating simulated samples, etc. The tasks that may be performed may also include any of a variety of data transformation tasks, including and not limited to, sorting operations, row and/or column-based mathematical operations, filtering of rows and/or columns based on the values of data items within a specified row or column, and/or reordering of at least a specified subset of data items within a data object into a specified ascending, descending or other order. Alternatively or additionally, the tasks that may be performed by any of the numerous task routines may include any of a variety of data normalization tasks, including and not limited to, normalizing time values, date values, monetary values, character spacing, use of delimiter characters and/or codes, and/or other aspects of formatting employed in representing data items within one or more data objects. The tasks performed may also include, and are not limited to, normalizing use of big or little Endian encoding of binary values, use or lack of use of sign bits, the quantity of bits to be employed in representations of integers and/or floating point values (e.g., bytes, words, doublewords or quadwords), etc.

The analyses that may be defined by the job flow definitions as job flows may be any of a wide variety of types of analyses that may include any of a wide variety of combinations of analysis, normalization and/or transformation tasks. The result reports generated through performances of the tasks as directed by each of the job flow definitions may include any of a wide variety of quantities and/or sizes of data. In some embodiments, one or more of the result reports generated may contain one or more data sets that may be provided as inputs to the performances of still other analyses, and/or may be provided to a reviewing device to be presented on a display thereof in any of a wide variety of types of visualization. In other embodiments, each of one or more of the result reports generated may primarily include an indication of a prediction and/or conclusion reached through the performance of an analysis that generated the result report as an output.

Also among the objects that may be stored in a federated area may be numerous instance logs that may each provide a record of various details of a single performance of a job flow that defines an analysis. More specifically, each instance log may provide indications of when a performance of a job flow occurred, along with identifiers of various objects stored within federated area(s) that were used and/or generated in that performance. Among those identifiers may be an identifier of the job flow definition that defines the job flow of the analysis performed, identifiers for all of the task routines executed in that performance, identifiers for any data objects employed as an input (e.g., input data sets), and identifiers for any data objects generated as an output (e.g., a result report that may include one or more output data sets). The one or more federated devices may assign such identifiers to data objects, task routines and/or job flow definitions as each is stored and/or generated within a federated area to enable such use of identifiers in the instance logs. In some embodiments, the identifier for each such object may be generated by taking a hash of at least a portion of that object to generate a hash value to be used as the identifier with at least a very high likelihood that the identifier generated for each such object is unique. Such use of a hash algorithm may have the advantage of enabling the generation of identifiers for objects that are highly likely to be unique with no other input than the objects, themselves, and this may aid in ensuring that such an identifier generated for an object by a federated device will be identical to the identifier that would be generated for the same object by another device.

It should be noted, however, that in the case of task routines, the identifiers assigned by the one or more federated devices to each of the task routines are not the same identifiers as the flow task identifiers that are employed by the job flow definitions to specify the tasks to be performed in a job flow. As will be explained in greater detail, for each task identified in a job flow definition by a flow task identifier, there may be multiple task routines to choose from to perform that task, and each of those task routines may be assigned a different identifier by the one or more federated devices to enable each of those task routines to be uniquely identified in an instance log.

Another of the rules imposed by the one or more federated devices may be that objects referred to within job flow definitions and/or instance logs that are stored within a federated area may not be permitted to be deleted from within the federated area. More precisely, to ensure that it remains possible to perform each of the job flows defined by a job flow definition stored in the federated area, the one or more federated devices may impose a restriction against the deletion of the task routines that have flow task identifiers that are referred to by any job flow definition stored within one or more federated areas. Correspondingly, to ensure that previous performances of job flows continue to be repeatable for purposes of review, the one or more federated devices may impose a restriction against the deletion of task routines, job flow definitions and data objects identified by their uniquely assigned identifiers within any instance log stored within one or more federated areas.

As a result of the imposition of such restrictions on the deletion of objects, the replacement of an already stored task routine with a new version of the task routine in a manner that entails the deletion of the already stored task routine may not be permitted. However, in some embodiments, the addition of updated versions of task routines to federated area(s) to coexist with older versions may be permitted to allow improvements to be made. By way of example, it may be deemed desirable to make improvements to a task routine to correct an error, to add an additional feature and/or to improve its efficiency. Doing so may entail the creation of a new version of the task routine that is given the same flow task identifier as an earlier version thereof to indicate that it performs the same task as the earlier version of the task routine. When provided to the one or more federated devices for storage, the flow task identifier given to the new version will provide an indication to the one or more federated devices that the newly created task routine is a new version of the earlier task routine already stored within the federated area. However, the one or more federated devices may still generate a unique identifier for the new version of the task routine to enable the new version to be uniquely identified in an instance log so as to make clear in an instance log which version of the task routine was used in particular the performance of a job flow.

In various embodiments, with job flow definitions, task routines, data objects and/or instance logs stored within one or more federated areas, the one or more federated devices may receive requests to employ such objects to perform analyses within a federated area and/or to provide such objects from federated area(s) to other devices to enable those other devices to perform analyses. Some requests may be to perform a specified job flow of an analysis with one or more specified data objects, or to provide another device with the objects needed to enable the performance by the other device of the specified job flow with the one or more specified data objects. Other requests may be to repeat an earlier performance of a job flow that begat a specified result report, or that entailed the use of a specific combination of a job flow and one or more data sets. Alternatively, other requests may be to provide another device with the objects needed to enable the other device to repeat an earlier performance of a job flow that begat a specified result report, or that entailed the use of a specific combination of a job flow and one or more data sets. Through the generation of identifiers for each of the various objects associated with each performance of a job flow, through the use of those identifiers to refer to such objects in instance logs, and through the use of those identifiers by the one or more federated devices in accessing such objects, requests for performances of analyses and/or for access to their associated objects are able to more efficiently identify particular performances, their associated objects and/or related objects.

In embodiments in which a request is received to perform a job flow of an analysis with one or more data objects (the corresponding job flow definition and the one or more data objects all identified in the request by their uniquely assigned identifiers), the one or more federated devices may analyze the instance logs stored in one or more federated areas to determine whether there was an earlier performance of the same job flow with the same one or more data objects. If there was such an earlier performance, then the result report generated as the output of that earlier performance may already be stored in a federated area. As long as none of the task routines executed in the earlier performance have been updated since the earlier performance, then a repeat performance of the same job flow with the same one or more data objects may not be necessary. Thus, if any instance logs are found for such an earlier performance, the one or more federated devices may analyze the instance log associated with the most recent earlier performance (if there has been more than one) to obtain the identifiers uniquely assigned to each of the task routines that were executed in that earlier performance. The one or more federated devices may then analyze each of the uniquely identified task routines to determine whether each of them continues to be the most current version stored in the federated area for use in performing its corresponding task. If so, then a repeated performance of the requested job flow with the one or more data objects identified in the request is not necessary, and the one or more federated devices may retrieve the result report generated in the earlier performance from a federated area and transmit that result report to the device from which the request was received.

However, if no instance logs are found for any earlier performance of the specified job flow with the specified one or more data objects where the earlier performance entailed the execution of the most current version of each of the task routines, then the one or more federated devices may perform the specified job flow with the specified data objects using the most current version of task routine for each task specified with a flow task identifier in the job flow definition. The one or more federated devices may then assign a unique identifier to and store the new result report generated during such a performance in a federated area, as well as transmit the new result report to the device from which the request was received. The one or more federated devices may also generate and store in a federated area a corresponding new instance log that specifies details of the performance, including the identifier of the job flow definition, the identifiers of all of the most current versions of task routines that were executed, the identifiers of the one or more data objects used as inputs and/or generated as outputs, and the identifier of the new result report that was generated.

In embodiments in which a request is received to provide objects to a requesting device to enable the requesting device (or still another device) to perform a job flow identified in the request by the identifier of the corresponding job flow definition with one or more data objects identified by their identifiers, the one or more federated devices may retrieve the requested objects from the federated area and transmit the requested objects to the requesting device. Those objects may include the identified job flow definition and the identified one or more data objects, along with the most current versions of the task routines required to perform each of the tasks specified in the job flow definition.

In embodiments in which a request is received to repeat a performance of a job flow of an analysis that begat a result report identified in the request by its uniquely assigned identifier, the one or more federated devices may analyze the instance logs stored in one or more federated areas to retrieve the instance log associated with the performance that resulted in the generation of the identified result report. The one or more federated devices may then analyze the retrieved instance log to obtain the identifiers for the job flow definition that defines the job flow, the identifiers for each of the task routines executed in the performance, and the identifiers of any data objects used as inputs in the performance. Upon retrieving the identified job flow definition, each of the identified task routines, and any identified data objects, the one or more federated devices may then execute the retrieved task routines, using the retrieved data objects, and in the manner defined by the retrieved job flow definition to repeat the performance of the job flow with those objects to generate a new result report. However, since the request was to repeat an earlier performance of the job flow with the very same objects, the new result report should be identical to the earlier result report generated in the original performance such that the new result report should be a regeneration of the earlier result report. The one or more federated devices may then assign an identifier to and store the new result report in a federated area, as well as transmit the new result report to the device from which the request was received. The one or more federated devices may also generate and store, in a federated area, a corresponding new instance log that specifies details of the new performance of the job flow, including the identifier of the job flow definition, the identifiers of all of the task routines that were executed, the identifiers of the one or more data objects used as inputs and/or generated as outputs, and the identifier of the new result report.

In embodiments in which a request is received to provide objects to a requesting device to enable the requesting device (or still another device) to repeat a performance of a job flow that begat a result report identified in the request by the identifier of the result report, the one or more federated devices may analyze the instance logs stored in one or more federated areas to retrieve the instance log associated with the performance that resulted in the generation of the identified result report. The one or more federated devices may then analyze the retrieved instance log to obtain the identifiers for the job flow definition that defines the job flow, the identifiers for each of the task routines executed in the performance, and the identifiers of any data objects used as inputs in the performance. Upon retrieving the identified job flow definition, each of the identified task routines, and any identified data objects, the one or more federated devices may then transmit those objects to the requesting device.

Through such a regime of rules restricting accesses that may be made to one or more federated areas, and through the use of unique identifiers for each object stored within one or more federated areas, objects such as data sets, task routines and job flow definitions are made readily available for reuse under conditions in which their ongoing integrity against inadvertent and/or deliberate alteration is assured. Updated versions of task routines may be independently created and stored within one or more federated areas in a manner that associates those updated versions with earlier versions without concern of accidental overwriting of earlier versions. The use of unique identifiers for every object that are able to be easily and consistently generated from the objects, themselves, serves to ensure consistency in the association of identifiers with the objects and prevent instances of accidental transposing of identifiers that may result in objects becoming irretrievable from within a federated area.

As a result of such pooling of data sets and task routines, new analyses may be more speedily created through reuse thereof by generating new job flows that identify already stored data sets and/or task routines. Additionally, where a task routine is subsequently updated, advantage may be automatically taken of that updated version in subsequent performances of each job flow that previously used the earlier version of that task routine. And yet, the earlier version of that task routine remains available to enable a comparative analysis of the results generated by the different versions if discrepancies therebetween are subsequently discovered.

As a result of such pooling of data sets, task routines and job flows, along with instance logs and result reports, repeated performances of a particular job flow with a particular data set can be avoided. Through use of identifiers uniquely associated with each object and recorded within each instance log, situations in which a requested performance of a particular job flow with a particular data set that has been previously performed can be more efficiently identified, and the result report generated by that previous performance can be more efficiently retrieved and made available in lieu of consuming time and processing resources to repeat that previous performance. And yet, if a question should arise as to the validity of the results of that previous performance, the data set(s), task routines and job flow definition on which that previous performance was based remain readily accessible for additional analysis to resolve that question.

Also, where there is no previous performance of a particular job flow with a particular data set such that there is no previously generated result report and/or instance log therefor, the processing resources of the grid of federated devices may be utilized to perform the particular job flow with the particular data set. The ready availability of the particular data set to the grid of federated devices enables such a performance without the consumption of time and network bandwidth resources that would be required to transmit the particular data set and other objects to the requesting device to enable a performance by the requesting device. Instead, the transmissions to the requesting device may be limited to the result report generated by the performance. Also, advantage may be taken of the grid of federated devices to cause the performance of one or more of the tasks of the job flow as multiple instances thereof in a distributed manner (e.g., at least partially in parallel) among multiple federated devices and/or among multiple threads of execution support by processor(s) within each such federated device.

As a result of the requirement that the data set(s), task routines and the job flow associated with each instance log be preserved, accountability for the validity of results of past performances of job flows with particular data sets is maintained. The sources of incorrect results, whether from invalid data, or from errors made in the creation of a task routine or a job flow, may be traced and identified. By way of example, an earlier performance of a particular job flow with a particular data set using earlier versions of task routines can be compared to a later performance of the same job flow with the same data set, but using newer versions of the same task routines, as part of an analysis to identify a possible error in a task routine. As a result, mistakes can be corrected and/or instances of malfeasance can be identified and addressed.

In various embodiments, the one or more federated devices may maintain a set of multiple related federated areas. The relationships among the federated areas may be such that a linear hierarchy is defined in which there is a base federated area with the least restricted degree of access, a private federated area with the most restricted degree of access, and/or one or more intervening federated areas with intermediate degrees of access restriction interposed between the base and private federated areas. Such a hierarchy of federated areas may be created to address any of a variety of situations in support of any of a variety of activities, including those in which different objects stored thereamong require different degrees of access restriction. By way of example, while a new data set or a new task routine is being developed, it may be deemed desirable to maintain it within the private federated area or intervening federated area to which access is granted to a relatively small number of users (e.g., persons and/or other entities that may each be associated with one or more source devices and/or reviewing devices) that are directly involved in the development effort. It may be deemed undesirable to have such a new data set or task routine made accessible to others beyond the users involved in such development before such development is completed, such that various forms of testing and/or quality assurance have been performed. Upon completion of such a new data set or task routine, it may then be deemed desirable to transfer it, or a copy thereof, to the base federated area or other intervening federated area to which access is granted to a larger number of users. Such a larger number of users may be the intended users of such a new data set or task routine.

It may be that multiple ones of such linear hierarchical sets of federated areas may be combined to form a tree of federated areas with a single base federated area with the least restricted degree of access at the root of the tree, and multiple private federated areas that each have more restricted degrees of access as the leaves of the tree. Such a tree may additionally include one or more intervening federated areas with various intermediate degrees of access restriction to define at least some of the branching of hierarchies of federated areas within the tree. Such a tree of federated areas may be created to address any of a variety of situations in support of any of a variety of larger and/or more complex activities, including those in which different users that each require access to different objects at different times are engaged in some form of collaboration. By way of example, multiple users may be involved in the development of a new task routine, and each such user may have a different role to play in such a development effort. While the new task routine is still being architected and/or generated, it may be deemed desirable to maintain it within a first private federated area or intervening federated area to which access is granted to a relatively small number of users that are directly involved in that effort. Upon completion of such an architecting and/or generation process, the new task routine, or a copy thereof, may be transferred to a second private federated area or intervening federated area to which access is granted to a different relatively small number of users that may be involved in performing tests and/or other quality analysis procedures on the new task routine to evaluate its fitness for release for use. Upon completion of such testing and/or quality analysis, the new task routine, or a copy thereof, may be transferred to a third private federated area or intervening federated area to which access is granted to yet another relatively small number of users that may be involved in pre-release experimental use of the new task routine to further verify its functionality in actual use case scenarios. Upon completion of such experimental use, the new task routine, or a copy thereof, may be transferred to a base federated area or other intervening federated area to which access is granted to a larger number of users that may be the intended users of the new task routine.

In embodiments in which multiple federated areas form a tree of federated areas, each user may be automatically granted their own private federated area as part of being granted access to at least a portion of the tree. Such an automated provision of a private federated area may improve the ease of use, for each such user, of at least the base federated area by providing a private storage area in which a private set of job flow definitions, task routines, data sets and/or other objects may be maintained to assist that user in the development and/or analysis of other objects that may be stored in at least the base federated area. By way of example, a developer of task routines may maintain a private set of job flow definitions, task routines and/or data sets in their private federated area for use as tools in developing, characterizing and/or testing the task routines that they develop. The one or more federated devices may be caused, by such a developer, to use such job flow definitions, task routines and/or data sets to perform compilations, characterizing and/or testing of such new task routines within the private federated area as part of the development process therefor. Some of such private job flow definitions, task routines and/or data sets may include and/or may be important pieces of intellectual property that such a developer desires to keep to themselves for their own exclusive use (e.g., treated as trade secrets and/or other forms of confidential information).

A base federated area within a linear hierarchy or hierarchical tree of federated areas may be the one federated area therein with the least restrictive degree of access such that a grant of access to the base federated area constitutes the lowest available level of access that can be granted to any user. Stated differently, the base federated area may serve as the most “open” or most “public” space within a linear hierarchy or hierarchical tree of federated spaces. Thus, the base federated area may serve as the storage space at which may be stored job flow definitions, versions of task routines, data sets, result reports and/or instance logs that are meant to be available to all users that have been granted any degree of access to the set of federated areas of which the base federated area is a part. The one or more federated devices may be caused, by a user that has been granted access to at least the base federated area, to perform a job flow within the base federated area using a job flow definition, task routines and/or data sets stored within the base federated area.

In a linear hierarchical set of federated areas that includes a base federated area and just a single private federated area, one or more intervening federated areas may be interposed therebetween to support the provision of different levels of access to other users that don't have access to the private federated area, but are meant to be given access to more than what is stored in the base federated area. Such a provision of differing levels of access would entail providing different users with access to either just the base federated area, or to one or more intervening federated areas. Of course, this presumes that each user having any degree of access to the set of federated areas is not automatically provided with their own private federated area, as the resulting set of federated areas would then define a tree that includes multiple private federated areas, and not a linear hierarchy that includes just a single private federated area.

In a hierarchical tree of federated areas that includes a base federated area at the root and multiple private federated areas at the leaves of the tree, one or more intervening federated areas may be interposed between one or more of the private federated areas and the base federated areas in a manner that defines part of one or more branches of the tree. Through such branching, different private federated areas and/or different sets of private federated areas may be linked to the base federated area through different intervening federated areas and/or different sets of intervening federated areas. In this way, users associated with some private federated areas within one branch may be provided with access to one or more intervening federated areas within that branch that allow sharing of objects thereamong, while also excluding other users associated with other private federated areas that may be within one or more other branches. Stated differently, branching may be used to create separate sets of private federated areas where each such set of private federated areas is associated with a group of users that have agreed to more closely share objects thereamong, while all users within all of such groups are able to share objects through the base federated area, if they so choose.

In embodiments in which there are multiple federated areas that form either a single linear hierarchy or a hierarchical tree, such a set of federated areas may be made navigable through the use of typical web browsing software. More specifically, the one or more federated devices may generate the portal to enable access, by a remote device, to federated areas from across a network using web access protocols in which each of multiple federated areas is provided with a unique uniform resource locator (URL). For a set of federated areas organized into either a linear hierarchy or a hierarchical tree, the URLs assigned thereto may be structured to reflect the hierarchy that has been defined among the federated areas therein. By way of example, for a tree of federated areas, the base federated area at the root of the tree may be assigned the shortest and simplest URL, and such a URL may be indicative of a name given to the tree of federated areas. In contrast, the URL of each federated area at a leaf of the tree may include a combination of at least a portion of the URL given to the base federated area, and at least a portion of the URL given to any intervening federated area in the path between the federated area at the leaf and the base federated area.

In embodiments of either a linear hierarchy of federated areas or a hierarchical tree of federated areas, one or more relationships that affect the manner in which objects may be accessed and/or used may be put in place between each private federated area and the base federated area, as well as through any intervening federated areas therebetween. Among such relationships may be an inheritance relationship in which, from the perspective of a private federate area, objects stored within the base federated area, or within any intervening federated area therebetween, may be treated as if they are also stored directly within the private federated area for purposes of being available for use in performing a job flow within the private federated area. As will be explained in greater detail, the provision of such an inheritance relationship may aid in enabling and/or encouraging the reuse of objects by multiple users by eliminating the need to distribute multiple copies of an object among multiple private federated areas in which that object may be needed for performances of job flows within each of those private federated areas. Instead, a single copy of such an object may be stored within the base federated area and will be treated as being just as readily available for use in performances of job flows within each of such private federated areas.

Also among such relationships may be a priority relationship in which, from the perspective of a private federated area, the use of a version of an object stored within the private federated area may be given priority over the use of another version of the same object stored within the base federated area, or within any intervening federated area therebetween. More specifically, where a job flow is to be performed within a private federated area, and there is one version of a task routine to perform a task in the job flow stored within the private federated area and another version of the task routine to perform the same task stored within the base federated area, use of the version of the task routine stored within the private federated area may be given priority over use of the other version stored within the base federated area. Further, such priority may be given to using the version stored within the private federated area regardless of whether the other version stored in the base federated area is a newer version. Stated differently, as part of performing the job flow within the private federated area, the one or more federated devices may first search within the private federated area for any needed task routines to perform each of the tasks specified in the job flow, and upon finding a task routine to perform a task within the private federated area, no search may be performed of any other federated area to find a task routine to perform that same task. It may be deemed desirable to implement such a priority relationship as a mechanism to allow a user associated with the private federated area to choose to override the automatic use of a version of a task routine within the base federated area (or an intervening federated area therebetween) due to an inheritance relationship by storing the version of the task routine that they prefer to use within the private federated area.

Also among such relationships may be a dependency relationship in which, from the perspective of a private federated area, some objects stored within the private federated area may have dependencies on objects stored within the base federated area, or within an intervening federated area therebetween. More specifically, as earlier discussed, the one or more federated devices may impose a rule that the task routines upon which a job flow depends may not be deleted such that the one or more federated devices may deny a request received from a remote device to delete a task routine that performs a task identified by a flow task identifier that is referred to by at least one job flow definition stored. Thus, where the private federated area stores a job flow definition that includes a flow task identifier specifying a particular task to be done, and the base federated area stores a task routine that performs that particular task, the job flow of the job flow definition may have a dependency on that task routine continuing to be available for use in performing the task through an inheritance relationship between the private federated area and the base federated area. In such a situation, the one or more federated devices may deny a request that may be received from a remote device to delete that task routine from the base federated area, at least as long as the job flow definition continues to be stored within the private federated area. However, if that job flow definition is deleted from the private federated area, and if there is no other job flow definition that refers to the same task flow identifier, then the one or more federated devices may permit the deletion of that task routine from the base federated area.

In embodiments in which there is a hierarchical tree of federated areas that includes at least two branches, a relationship may be put in place between two private and/or intervening federated areas that are each within a different one of the two branches by which one or more objects may be automatically transferred therebetween by the one or more federated devices in response to one or more conditions being met. As previously discussed, the formation of branches within a tree may be indicative of the separation of groups of users where there may be sharing of objects among users within each such group, such as through the use of one or more intervening federated areas within a branch of the tree, but not sharing of objects between such groups. However, there may be occasions in which there is a need to enable a relatively limited degree of sharing of objects between federated areas within different branches. Such an occasion may be an instance of multiple groups of users choosing to collaborate on the development of one or more particular objects such that those particular one or more objects are to be shared among the multiple groups where, otherwise, objects would not normally be shared therebetween. On such an occasion, the one or more federated devices may be requested to instantiate a transfer area through which those particular one or more objects may be automatically transferred therebetween upon one or more specified conditions being met. In some embodiments, the transfer area may be formed as an overlap between two federated areas of two different branches of a hierarchical tree. In other embodiments, the transfer area may be formed within the base federated area to which users associated with federated areas within different branches may all have access.

In some embodiments, the determination of whether the condition(s) for a transfer have been met and/or the performance of the transfer of one or more particular objects may be performed using one or more transfer routines to perform transfer-related tasks called for within a transfer flow definition. In such embodiments, a transfer routine may be stored within each of the two federated areas between which the transfer is to occur. Within the federated area that the particular one or more objects are to be transferred from, the one or more federated devices may be caused by the transfer routine stored therein to repeatedly check whether the specified condition(s) have been met, and if so, to then transfer copies of the particular one or more objects into the transfer area. Within the federated area that the particular one or more objects are to be transferred to, the one or more federated devices may be caused by the transfer routine stored therein to repeatedly check whether copies of the particular one or more objects have been transferred into the transfer area, and if so, to then retrieve the copies of the particular one or more objects from the transfer area.

A condition that triggers such automated transfers may be any of a variety of conditions that may eventually be met through one or more performances of a job flow within the federated area from which one or more objects are to be so transferred. More specifically, the condition may be the successful generation of particular results data that may include a data set that meets one or more requirements that are specified as the condition. Alternatively, the condition may be the successful generation and/or testing of a new task routine such that there is confirmation in a result report or in the generation of one or more particular data sets that the new task routine has been successfully verified as meeting one or more requirements that are specified as the condition. As will be explained in greater detail, the one or more performances of a job flow that may produce an output that causes the condition to be met may occur within one or more processes that may be separate from the process in which a transfer routine is executed to repeatedly check whether the condition has been met. Also, each of such processes may be performed on a different thread of execution of a processor of a federated device, or each of such processes may be performed on a different thread of execution of a different processor from among multiple processors of either a single federated device or multiple federated devices.

By way of example, multiple users may be involved in the development of a new neural network, and each such user may have a different role to play in such a development effort. While the new neural network is being developed through a training process, it may be deemed desirable to maintain the data set of weights and biases that is being generated through numerous iterations of training within a first intervening federated area to which access is granted to a relatively small number of users that are directly involved in that training effort. Upon completion of such training of the neural network, a copy of the data set of weights and biases may be transferred to a second intervening federated area to which access is granted to a different relatively small number of users that may be involved in testing the neural network defined by the data set to evaluate its fitness for release for use. The transfer of the copy of the data set from the first intervening federated area to the second intervening federated area may be triggered by the training having reached a stage at which a predetermined condition is met that defines the completion of training, such as a quantity of iterations of training having been performed. Upon completion of such testing of the neural network, a copy of the data set of weights and biases may be transferred from the second intervening federated area to a third intervening federated area to which access is granted to yet another relatively small number of users that may be involved in pre-release experimental use of the neural network to further verify its functionality in actual use case scenarios. Like the transfer to the second intervening federated area, the transfer of the copy of the data set from the second intervening federated area to the third intervening federated area may be triggered by the testing having reached a stage at which a predetermined condition was met that defines the completion of testing, such as a threshold of a characteristic of performance of the neural network having been found to have been met during testing. Upon completion of such experimental use, a copy of the data set of weights and biases may be transferred from the third federated area to a base federated area to which access is granted to a larger number of users that may be the intended users of the new neural network.

Such a neural network may be part of an effort to transition from performing a particular analytical function using non-neuromorphic processing (i.e., processing in which a neural network is not used) to performing the same analytical function using neuromorphic processing (i.e., processing in which a neural network is used). Such a transition may represent a tradeoff in accuracy for speed, as the performance of the analytical function using neuromorphic processing may not achieve the perfect accuracy (or at least the degree of accuracy) that is possible via the performance of the analytical function using non-neuromorphic processing, but the performance of the analytical function using neuromorphic processing may be faster by one or more orders of magnitude, depending on whether the neural network is implemented with software-based simulations of its artificial neurons executed by one or more CPUs or GPUs, or hardware-based implementations of its artificial neurons provided by one or more neuromorphic devices.

Where the testing of such a neural network progresses successfully such that the neural network begins to be put to actual use, there may be a gradual transition from the testing to the usage that may be automatically implemented in a staged manner. Initially, non-neuromorphic and neuromorphic implementations of the analytical function may be performed at least partially in parallel with the same input data values being provided to both, and with the corresponding output data values of each being compared to test the degree of accuracy of the neural network in performing the analytical function. In such initial, at least partially parallel, performances, priority may be given to providing processing resources to the non-neuromorphic implementation, since the non-neuromorphic implementation is still the one that is in use. As the neural network demonstrates a degree of accuracy that at least meets a predetermined threshold, the testing may change such that the neuromorphic implementation is used, and priority is given to providing processing resources to it, while the non-neuromorphic implementation is used at least partially in parallel solely to provide output data values for further comparisons to corresponding ones provided by the neuromorphic implementation. Presuming that the neural network continues to demonstrate a degree of accuracy that meets or exceeds the predetermined threshold, further use of the non-neuromorphic implementation of the analytical function may cease, entirely.

In various embodiments, the development of new task routines and/or new job flow definitions may be supported through the generation of DAGs from comments within the programming code of task routines that describe at least inputs and/or outputs of task routines, and/or specifications of at least inputs and/or outputs of tasks within job flow definitions. The programming code of a task routine and/or the contents of a job flow definition may be parsed to identify, retrieve and interpret such information to build any of a variety of data structure(s) that correlate inputs and/or outputs to tasks and/or the task routines that are to perform those tasks, and from which a DAG for one or more task routines may be generated and/or visually presented. In some embodiments, such a data structure may include script generated in a markup language and/or a block of programming code for each task or task routine (e.g., a macro employing syntax from any of a variety of programming languages). Regardless of the form of the data structure(s) that are generated, such a data structure may also specify the task routine identifier assigned to each task routine and/or the flow task identifier identifying the task performed by each task routine.

In some embodiments, such comments within a task routine and/or such specifications within a job flow definition may specify various aspects of its inputs and/or outputs, such data type, indexing scheme, etc. of data object(s), but may refrain from specifying any particular data object as part of an approach to allowing particular data object(s) to be specified by a job flow definition, or in any of a variety of other ways, during the performance of the job flow in which the task routine may be executed and/or that is defined by the job flow definition. Instead, a placeholder designator (e.g., a variable) may be specified that is to be given a value indicative of a specific data object during the performance of a job flow. In other embodiments, in which one or more particular data objects are specified, such specification of one or more particular data objects may be done as a default to address a situation in which one or more particular data objects are not specified by a job flow definition and/or in another way during performance of a job flow in which the task routine may be executed.

Which one or more task routines are to be included in such a DAG may be specified in any of a variety of ways. By way of example, a request may be received for a DAG that includes one or more tasks or task routines that are explicitly identified by their respective flow task identifiers and/or task routine identifiers. By way of another example, a request may be received for a DAG that includes all of the task routines currently stored within a federated area that may be specified by a URL. By way of still another example, a request may be received for a DAG that includes task routines for all of the tasks identified within a specified job flow definition. And, by way of yet another example, a request may be received for a DAG that includes all of the task routines specified by their identifiers in an instance log of a previous performance of a job flow. Regardless of the exact manner in which one or more tasks and/or task routines may be specified in a request for inclusion within a DAG, each task routine that is directly identified or that is specified indirectly through the flow task identifier of the task it performs may be searched for within one or more federated areas as earlier described.

In situations in which a DAG is requested that is to include multiple tasks and/or task routines, the DAG may be generated to indicate any dependencies thereamong. In some embodiments, a visualization of the DAG may be generated to provide a visual indication of such a dependency, such as a line, arrow, color coding, graphical symbols and/or other form of visual connector indicative of the dependency may be generated within the visualization to visually link an output of the one task routine to an input of the other. In embodiments in which the parsing of task routines and/or of job flows includes comparisons between pieces of information that may result in the detection of discrepancies in such details as dependencies among tasks and/or among task routines, such discrepancies may be visually indicated in a DAG in any of a variety of ways. By way of example, a DAG may be generated to indicate such discrepancies with color coding, graphical symbols and/or other form of visual indicator positioned at or adjacent to the graphical depiction of the affected input or output in the DAG. Such a visual indicator may thereby serve as a visual prompt to personnel viewing the DAG to access the affected task routine(s) and/or affected job flow definition to examine and/or correct the discrepancy. Alternatively or additionally, at least a pair of alternate DAGs may be generated, and personnel may be provided with a user interface (UI) that enables “toggling” therebetween and/or a side-by-side comparison, where one DAG is based on the details of inputs and/or outputs provided by comments while another DAG is based on the manner in which those details are actually implemented in executable code.

In some embodiments, with a DAG generated and visually presented for viewing by personnel involved in the development of new task routines and/or new job flow definitions, such personnel may be provided with a UI that enables editing of the DAG. More specifically, a UI may be provided that enables depicted dependencies between inputs and outputs of task routines to be removed or otherwise changed, and/or that enables new dependencies to be added. Through the provision of such a UI, personnel involved in the development of new task routines and/or new job flow definitions may be able to define a new job flow by modifying a DAG generated from one or more task routines. Indeed, the one or more task routines may be selected for inclusion in a DAG for the purpose of having them available in the DAG for inclusion in the new job flow. Regardless of whether or not a DAG generated from one or more task routines is edited as has just been described, a UI may be provided to enable personnel to choose to save the DAG as a new job flow definition. Regardless of whether the DAG is saved for use as a job flow definition, or simply to retain the DAG for future reference, the DAG may be stored as a script generated in a process description language such as business process model and notation (BPMN) promulgated by the Object Management Group of Needham, Mass., USA.

As an alternative to receiving a request to generate a DAG based on at least one or more task routines, a request may be received by one or more federated devices from another device to provide the other device with objects needed to enable the other device to so generate a DAG. In some embodiments, such a request may be treated in a manner similar to earlier described requests to retrieve objects needed to enable another device to perform a job flow with most recent versions of task routines or to repeat a past performance of a job flow, as documented by an instance log. However, in some embodiments, the data structure(s) generated from parsing task routines and/or a job flow definition may be transmitted to the other device in lieu of transmitting the task routines, themselves. This may be deemed desirable as a mechanism to reduce the quantity of information transmitted to the other device for its use in generating a DAG.

In some embodiments, a job flow definition may incorporate GUI instructions that are to be executed by a processor to provide a job flow GUI when the corresponding job flow is performed. The provision of a GUI may be deemed desirable to provide a mechanism by which a user may be prompted and/or otherwise given an opportunity to manually provide information that may be needed to enable the performance of a job flow. By way of example, it may be that a user needs to specify one or more data objects that will be used as inputs to the performance of the job flow, and/or it may be that a user needs to directly enter one or more of the data values that will be directly used as such input. Alternatively or additionally, it may be that a user needs to specify one or more parameters that control the manner in which a job flow is performed, such as a selection of particular tasks and/or particular predefined combinations of tasks that are to be performed as part of performing the job flow. Also alternatively or additionally, it may be that a user needs to specify one or more particular task routines that are to be executed in performing one or more tasks of the job flow. As still another alternative, it may be that a user needs to specify a particular federated area in which one or more result reports are to be stored after being generated during a performance of a job flow.

The GUI instructions incorporated into a job flow definition may specify one or more GUI pages of the GUI that are to be displayed on a display employed in providing the GUI, in what order and/or in response to what input that may be received via an input device also employed in providing the job flow GUI. By way of example, such GUI instructions may specify various aspects of a series of GUI pages that may include text boxes to fill in, menus from which items may be selected, and/or any of a variety of other graphical controls, etc., used to prompt a user through providing various pieces of information (e.g., a “wizard” user interface).

In embodiments in which a job flow definition is at least partially made up of text, such GUI instructions may be written as part of writing such text in the job flow definition (e.g., through use of a text editor). Such GUI instructions may be written in any of a wide variety of programming languages or extensions to programming languages, including and not limited to, C, C++, Python, or Java. Alternatively or additionally, such GUI instructions may be written in any of a variety of markup languages, including and not limited to, extensible markup language (XML) or hypertext markup language (HTML). In other embodiments, the GUI instructions may be generated from information retrieved by parsing a data structure (e.g., a spreadsheet data structure) that may also include portions of data, formulae and/or other forms of information that at least specify tasks of an analysis to be performed. By way of example, such a data structure may include instructions that describe one or more pages of a GUI that prompts a user for input, and/or that specifies one or more graphs and/or other forms of visual output to be generated from data that may be generated during a performance of the analysis.

However, in still other embodiments, the GUI instructions may be generated by interpreting sketch input that provides a symbolic representation of one or more GUI pages to be visually presented and/or one or more forms of user input to be monitored for during a performance of the corresponding job flow. More specifically, a neural network may be employed to analyze sketch input received from an input device (e.g., a touch sensitive tablet device with a stylus) to identify one or more predefined graphical tokens that may represent one or more objects and/or one or more actions to be performed with objects. Such an input device may integrate a display co-located with a touch-sensitive surface that senses contact by, and movement of, the stylus by a developer of the GUI to provide the sketch input. As lines are drawn, representations of those lines may visually presented on such a display to provide confirmation of the successful recognition of each such line being drawn. Further, as the drawing of each token is completed, visual confirmation of the recognition of a token having been drawn, as well as which token it has been identified as, may be provided by replacing the representations of the hand-drawn lines of such a token with a graphical representation of the token in the same location.

Among the tokens that may be included in a vocabulary of tokens that may be recognized may be object tokens that each represent a command to display one or more aspects of one or more objects (e.g., a data object, a task routine, a job flow definition, etc.). By way of example, an object token may represent a command to display a DAG of task routine or job flow, a command to provide a list of data objects within a federated area, or a command to provide details of a selected object (e.g., it's identifier, statistics concerning its contents, etc.). Also within the vocabulary of tokens may be action tokens that each represent an action to be taken concerning one or more objects in response to a particular input received during a performance of the corresponding job flow. Such actions may include playing or the cessation of playing of audio and/or video media included within a data object. Alternatively or additionally, such actions may include the execution of one or more tasks of the corresponding job flow and/or the execution of one or more specific task routines.

Among the tokens that may be included in a vocabulary of tokens may also be tokens indicative of specific forms of user input to be monitored for during a performance of the corresponding job flow. Such tokens may also represent particular commands to be carried out in response to the receipt of such specific forms of input. By way of example, different tokens may represent different selection actions that may be taken by a user, including and not limited to, a single or double-click action of a button of a mouse, touchpad, joystick or other similar input device. Such tokens may distinguish among the use of left, right, up, down, middle, center and/or other buttons that may be incorporated into such input devices. Thus, a GUI may be defined that allows a user to select different actions to take in response to what button they press.

Beyond various tokens that may be recognized in sketch input, the sketch input may also include any of a variety of types of text that may serve to provide various labels associated with objects, with tokens, and/or with other aspects of a GUI. By way of example, text that is co-located with an object token may be recognized and interpreted as text that identifies a particular object or particular set of objects that are to be associated with that object token. Thus, an object token that represents a command to provide a DAG of an object may be accompanied by co-located text that identifies the object for which a DAG is to be provided. By way of another example, text that is co-located with an object token may be recognized as specifying which GUI page is associated with that object token such that the command represented by that object token will be performed when that specified GUI page is displayed.

In some embodiments, combinations of tokens and text may be used to specify aspects of transitions to be made among multiple GUI pages. By way of example, a token that corresponds to a single right-click may be accompanied with an identifier of a particular GUI page to indicate that a transition is to be made to displaying the particular GUI page in response to a single right-click. Alternatively or additionally, text may be employed as part of identifying which input action is to be associated with such a transition (e.g., a letter “R” alongside a token to distinguish a right-click from a left-click).

In some embodiments, at least a subset of the objects required to perform a job flow may be automatically generated by interpreting the contents of a data structure that includes both data and a specification of an analysis to be performed, such as a spreadsheet data structure. Such a data structure may include one or more data tables in which at least some data required as input to the analysis may be arranged into rows and columns of data values that are made accessible via an indexing scheme of row and/or column identifiers. Such a data structure may also include one or more formula tables in which a set of formulae provide the specification of what operations are included in the analysis. Each of the formulae may specify one or more inputs and/or one or more outputs using identifiers of specific data tables and/or using identifiers of specific rows and/or columns within data tables.

Such a data structure may also include metadata indicating locations of data tables and/or formula tables within the data structure. However, in a situation in which such metadata is not provided, the data structure may be parsed to locate data tables and/or formula tables based on rules for the identification of tables within the data structure (e.g., rules for offsets at which tables may begin) and/or based on the identification of location markers (e.g., unique sequences of bits and/or characters that each mark the start of a table).

Within such a data structure, it may be that some rows or some columns (i.e., some subparts) contain data values that are used as inputs, while others of the rows or columns (i.e., other subparts) contain data values that may have been generated as outputs in an earlier performance of the analysis. Following identification of the data tables and/or formula tables, each instance in which each formula uses an identifier of a data table or of a subpart of a data table may be employed to determine which whole data tables and/or subparts of data tables contain data values that are used as inputs and/or which contain data values that are generated as outputs. One or more data objects may then be generated that contain the data values from the data tables and/or subparts of data tables that are used as inputs to the analysis. In generating such data objects, rules for the generation of data objects may be applied to specify various aspects of how input data from different subparts of each data table are to be organized into one or more data objects.

Each formula within the one or more formula tables that may be present within such a data structure may be treated as a definition of a separate task to be performed as part of performing the analysis. Each formula may be parsed to identify the one or more operations that each formula indicates should be performed. In some embodiments, a separate task routine may then be generated from each formula to perform the one or more operations specified therein as a task. In other embodiments, the identified one or more operations of the task of each formula may be used to match each formula to an existing task routine. Also, the identifiers of data tables and/or subparts of data tables that each formula uses to identify an input or an output may be used to identify dependencies among the formulae in which data that is generated as an output of one formula is required as an input to another formula. Such dependencies may then be used to derive an order of performance of the tasks in a job flow for the performance of the analysis, which then becomes the order of execution of the corresponding task routines. A job flow definition for performing that job flow may then be generated to include a specification of this derived order of performance of the tasks.

As part of deriving the order of performance of the tasks of the job flow, one or more instances of a lack of a dependency among the tasks may lead to the identification of one or more opportunities for parallel performances of tasks as part of performing the job flow. Where such opportunities are identified, the job flow definition may be generated to include indications of such opportunities. Further, it may be that the rules for the generation of data objects specify that separate data objects are to be generated for data used as inputs to different tasks that may be executed in parallel as a measure to avoid the possibility of different parts of the same data object being distributed to different processing devices that may each be assigned to perform a different one of such tasks.

In some embodiments, the data objects, the task routines and/or the job flow definition that are generated from such a data structure may be stored within a single federated area that may be specifically generated for that purpose. The generation of such a federated area may be specified in a request that is received to perform the generation of these multiple objects from such a data structure. Further, in some embodiments, the data structure, itself, may be stored within a federated area as a measure to enforce accountability for the generation of the multiple objects from the data structure by enabling the generation of the multiple objects to be scrutinized at a later time.

In some embodiments, where data tables within a data structure is found to contain data values generated as an output of a past performance of an analysis, additional objects may be generated and stored within a federated area to document that past performance. More specifically, one or more result report objects may be generated to store such output data, and an instance log may be generated that identifies the one or more result reports as associated with such a past performance, along with the earlier generated data objects, task routines and/or job flow definition. This may enable a subsequent comparison to be made between the output of the past performance of the analysis in the processing environment with which the data structure is associated and the output of a subsequent performance of the job flow defined in the newly generated job flow definition using the same input data.

In some embodiments, a DAG of the job flow may also be generated to serve as a visual guide of the manner in which the analysis of the data structure will be performed when the job flow is performed. In such a DAG, dependencies and any instances in which a lack of dependencies enables parallel performances of tasks may be visually indicated. Additionally, in some embodiments, the DAG may be employed to provide a visual indication of such error conditions as missing input data, mismatches in data types and/or dependency errors.

With general reference to notations and nomenclature used herein, portions of the detailed description that follows may be presented in terms of program procedures executed by a processor of a machine or of multiple networked machines. These procedural descriptions and representations are used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. A procedure is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. These operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic or optical communications capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It proves convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to what is communicated as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be noted, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to those quantities.

Further, these manipulations are often referred to in terms, such as adding or comparing, which are commonly associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. However, no such capability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of the operations described herein that form part of one or more embodiments. Rather, these operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performing operations of various embodiments include machines selectively activated or configured by a routine stored within that is written in accordance with the teachings herein, and/or include apparatus specially constructed for the required purpose. Various embodiments also relate to apparatus or systems for performing these operations. These apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purpose or may include a general purpose computer. The required structure for a variety of these machines will appear from the description given.

Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding thereof. It may be evident, however, that the novel embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate a description thereof. The intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives within the scope of the claims.

Systems depicted in some of the figures may be provided in various configurations. In some embodiments, the systems may be configured as a distributed system where one or more components of the system are distributed across one or more networks in a cloud computing system and/or a fog computing system.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that provides an illustration of the hardware components of a data transmission network 100, according to embodiments of the present technology. Data transmission network 100 is a specialized computer system that may be used for processing large amounts of data where a large number of computer processing cycles are required.

Data transmission network 100 may also include computing environment 114. Computing environment 114 may be a specialized computer or other machine that processes the data received within the data transmission network 100. Data transmission network 100 also includes one or more network devices 102. Network devices 102 may include client devices that attempt to communicate with computing environment 114. For example, network devices 102 may send data to the computing environment 114 to be processed, may send signals to the computing environment 114 to control different aspects of the computing environment or the data it is processing, among other reasons. Network devices 102 may interact with the computing environment 114 through a number of ways, such as, for example, over one or more networks 108. As shown in FIG. 1, computing environment 114 may include one or more other systems. For example, computing environment 114 may include a database system 118 and/or a communications grid 120.

In other embodiments, network devices may provide a large amount of data, either all at once or streaming over a period of time (e.g., using event stream processing (ESP), described further with respect to FIGS. 8-10), to the computing environment 114 via networks 108. For example, network devices 102 may include network computers, sensors, databases, or other devices that may transmit or otherwise provide data to computing environment 114. For example, network devices may include local area network devices, such as routers, hubs, switches, or other computer networking devices. These devices may provide a variety of stored or generated data, such as network data or data specific to the network devices themselves. Network devices may also include sensors that monitor their environment or other devices to collect data regarding that environment or those devices, and such network devices may provide data they collect over time. Network devices may also include devices within the internet of things, such as devices within a home automation network. Some of these devices may be referred to as edge devices, and may involve edge computing circuitry. Data may be transmitted by network devices directly to computing environment 114 or to network-attached data stores, such as network-attached data stores 110 for storage so that the data may be retrieved later by the computing environment 114 or other portions of data transmission network 100.

Data transmission network 100 may also include one or more network-attached data stores 110. Network-attached data stores 110 are used to store data to be processed by the computing environment 114 as well as any intermediate or final data generated by the computing system in non-volatile memory. However in certain embodiments, the configuration of the computing environment 114 allows its operations to be performed such that intermediate and final data results can be stored solely in volatile memory (e.g., RAM), without a requirement that intermediate or final data results be stored to non-volatile types of memory (e.g., disk). This can be useful in certain situations, such as when the computing environment 114 receives ad hoc queries from a user and when responses, which are generated by processing large amounts of data, need to be generated on-the-fly. In this non-limiting situation, the computing environment 114 may be configured to retain the processed information within memory so that responses can be generated for the user at different levels of detail as well as allow a user to interactively query against this information.

Network-attached data stores may store a variety of different types of data organized in a variety of different ways and from a variety of different sources. For example, network-attached data storage may include storage other than primary storage located within computing environment 114 that is directly accessible by processors located therein. Network-attached data storage may include secondary, tertiary or auxiliary storage, such as large hard drives, servers, virtual memory, among other types. Storage devices may include portable or non-portable storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other mediums capable of storing, containing data. A machine-readable storage medium or computer-readable storage medium may include a non-transitory medium in which data can be stored and that does not include carrier waves and/or transitory electronic signals. Examples of a non-transitory medium may include, for example, a magnetic disk or tape, optical storage media such as compact disk or digital versatile disk, flash memory, memory or memory devices. A computer-program product may include code and/or machine-executable instructions that may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, among others. Furthermore, the data stores may hold a variety of different types of data. For example, network-attached data stores 110 may hold unstructured (e.g., raw) data, such as manufacturing data (e.g., a database containing records identifying products being manufactured with parameter data for each product, such as colors and models) or product sales databases (e.g., a database containing individual data records identifying details of individual product sales).

The unstructured data may be presented to the computing environment 114 in different forms such as a flat file or a conglomerate of data records, and may have data values and accompanying time stamps. The computing environment 114 may be used to analyze the unstructured data in a variety of ways to determine the best way to structure (e.g., hierarchically) that data, such that the structured data is tailored to a type of further analysis that a user wishes to perform on the data. For example, after being processed, the unstructured time stamped data may be aggregated by time (e.g., into daily time period units) to generate time series data and/or structured hierarchically according to one or more dimensions (e.g., parameters, attributes, and/or variables). For example, data may be stored in a hierarchical data structure, such as a ROLAP OR MOLAP database, or may be stored in another tabular form, such as in a flat-hierarchy form.

Data transmission network 100 may also include one or more server farms 106. Computing environment 114 may route select communications or data to the one or more sever farms 106 or one or more servers within the server farms. Server farms 106 can be configured to provide information in a predetermined manner. For example, server farms 106 may access data to transmit in response to a communication. Server farms 106 may be separately housed from each other device within data transmission network 100, such as computing environment 114, and/or may be part of a device or system.

Server farms 106 may host a variety of different types of data processing as part of data transmission network 100. Server farms 106 may receive a variety of different data from network devices, from computing environment 114, from cloud network 116, or from other sources. The data may have been obtained or collected from one or more sensors, as inputs from a control database, or may have been received as inputs from an external system or device. Server farms 106 may assist in processing the data by turning raw data into processed data based on one or more rules implemented by the server farms. For example, sensor data may be analyzed to determine changes in an environment over time or in real-time.

Data transmission network 100 may also include one or more cloud networks 116. Cloud network 116 may include a cloud infrastructure system that provides cloud services. In certain embodiments, services provided by the cloud network 116 may include a host of services that are made available to users of the cloud infrastructure system on demand Cloud network 116 is shown in FIG. 1 as being connected to computing environment 114 (and therefore having computing environment 114 as its client or user), but cloud network 116 may be connected to or utilized by any of the devices in FIG. 1. Services provided by the cloud network can dynamically scale to meet the needs of its users. The cloud network 116 may include one or more computers, servers, and/or systems. In some embodiments, the computers, servers, and/or systems that make up the cloud network 116 are different from the user's own on-premises computers, servers, and/or systems. For example, the cloud network 116 may host an application, and a user may, via a communication network such as the Internet, on demand, order and use the application.

While each device, server and system in FIG. 1 is shown as a single device, it will be appreciated that multiple devices may instead be used. For example, a set of network devices can be used to transmit various communications from a single user, or remote server 140 may include a server stack. As another example, data may be processed as part of computing environment 114.

Each communication within data transmission network 100 (e.g., between client devices, between servers 106 and computing environment 114 or between a server and a device) may occur over one or more networks 108. Networks 108 may include one or more of a variety of different types of networks, including a wireless network, a wired network, or a combination of a wired and wireless network. Examples of suitable networks include the Internet, a personal area network, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or a wireless local area network (WLAN). A wireless network may include a wireless interface or combination of wireless interfaces. As an example, a network in the one or more networks 108 may include a short-range communication channel, such as a BLUETOOTH® communication channel or a BLUETOOTH® Low Energy communication channel. A wired network may include a wired interface. The wired and/or wireless networks may be implemented using routers, access points, bridges, gateways, or the like, to connect devices in the network 114, as will be further described with respect to FIG. 2. The one or more networks 108 can be incorporated entirely within or can include an intranet, an extranet, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, communications between two or more systems and/or devices can be achieved by a secure communications protocol, such as secure sockets layer (SSL) or transport layer security (TLS). In addition, data and/or transactional details may be encrypted.

Some aspects may utilize the Internet of Things (IoT), where things (e.g., machines, devices, phones, sensors) can be connected to networks and the data from these things can be collected and processed within the things and/or external to the things. For example, the IoT can include sensors in many different devices, and high value analytics can be applied to identify hidden relationships and drive increased efficiencies. This can apply to both big data analytics and real-time (e.g., ESP) analytics. This will be described further below with respect to FIG. 2.

As noted, computing environment 114 may include a communications grid 120 and a transmission network database system 118. Communications grid 120 may be a grid-based computing system for processing large amounts of data. The transmission network database system 118 may be for managing, storing, and retrieving large amounts of data that are distributed to and stored in the one or more network-attached data stores 110 or other data stores that reside at different locations within the transmission network database system 118. The compute nodes in the grid-based computing system 120 and the transmission network database system 118 may share the same processor hardware, such as processors that are located within computing environment 114.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example network including an example set of devices communicating with each other over an exchange system and via a network, according to embodiments of the present technology. As noted, each communication within data transmission network 100 may occur over one or more networks. System 200 includes a network device 204 configured to communicate with a variety of types of client devices, for example client devices 230, over a variety of types of communication channels.

As shown in FIG. 2, network device 204 can transmit a communication over a network (e.g., a cellular network via a base station 210). The communication can be routed to another network device, such as network devices 205-209, via base station 210. The communication can also be routed to computing environment 214 via base station 210. For example, network device 204 may collect data either from its surrounding environment or from other network devices (such as network devices 205-209) and transmit that data to computing environment 214.

Although network devices 204-209 are shown in FIG. 2 as a mobile phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, temperature sensor, motion sensor, and audio sensor respectively, the network devices may be or include sensors that are sensitive to detecting aspects of their environment. For example, the network devices may include sensors such as water sensors, power sensors, electrical current sensors, chemical sensors, optical sensors, pressure sensors, geographic or position sensors (e.g., GPS), velocity sensors, acceleration sensors, flow rate sensors, among others. Examples of characteristics that may be sensed include force, torque, load, strain, position, temperature, air pressure, fluid flow, chemical properties, resistance, electromagnetic fields, radiation, irradiance, proximity, acoustics, moisture, distance, speed, vibrations, acceleration, electrical potential, electrical current, among others. The sensors may be mounted to various components used as part of a variety of different types of systems (e.g., an oil drilling operation). The network devices may detect and record data related to the environment that it monitors, and transmit that data to computing environment 214.

As noted, one type of system that may include various sensors that collect data to be processed and/or transmitted to a computing environment according to certain embodiments includes an oil drilling system. For example, the one or more drilling operation sensors may include surface sensors that measure a hook load, a fluid rate, a temperature and a density in and out of the wellbore, a standpipe pressure, a surface torque, a rotation speed of a drill pipe, a rate of penetration, a mechanical specific energy, etc. and downhole sensors that measure a rotation speed of a bit, fluid densities, downhole torque, downhole vibration (axial, tangential, lateral), a weight applied at a drill bit, an annular pressure, a differential pressure, an azimuth, an inclination, a dog leg severity, a measured depth, a vertical depth, a downhole temperature, etc. Besides the raw data collected directly by the sensors, other data may include parameters either developed by the sensors or assigned to the system by a client or other controlling device. For example, one or more drilling operation control parameters may control settings such as a mud motor speed to flow ratio, a bit diameter, a predicted formation top, seismic data, weather data, etc. Other data may be generated using physical models such as an earth model, a weather model, a seismic model, a bottom hole assembly model, a well plan model, an annular friction model, etc. In addition to sensor and control settings, predicted outputs, of for example, the rate of penetration, mechanical specific energy, hook load, flow in fluid rate, flow out fluid rate, pump pressure, surface torque, rotation speed of the drill pipe, annular pressure, annular friction pressure, annular temperature, equivalent circulating density, etc. may also be stored in the data warehouse.

In another example, another type of system that may include various sensors that collect data to be processed and/or transmitted to a computing environment according to certain embodiments includes a home automation or similar automated network in a different environment, such as an office space, school, public space, sports venue, or a variety of other locations. Network devices in such an automated network may include network devices that allow a user to access, control, and/or configure various home appliances located within the user's home (e.g., a television, radio, light, fan, humidifier, sensor, microwave, iron, and/or the like), or outside of the user's home (e.g., exterior motion sensors, exterior lighting, garage door openers, sprinkler systems, or the like). For example, network device 102 may include a home automation switch that may be coupled with a home appliance. In another embodiment, a network device can allow a user to access, control, and/or configure devices, such as office-related devices (e.g., copy machine, printer, or fax machine), audio and/or video related devices (e.g., a receiver, a speaker, a projector, a DVD player, or a television), media-playback devices (e.g., a compact disc player, a CD player, or the like), computing devices (e.g., a home computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computing device, or a wearable device), lighting devices (e.g., a lamp or recessed lighting), devices associated with a security system, devices associated with an alarm system, devices that can be operated in an automobile (e.g., radio devices, navigation devices), and/or the like. Data may be collected from such various sensors in raw form, or data may be processed by the sensors to create parameters or other data either developed by the sensors based on the raw data or assigned to the system by a client or other controlling device.

In another example, another type of system that may include various sensors that collect data to be processed and/or transmitted to a computing environment according to certain embodiments includes a power or energy grid. A variety of different network devices may be included in an energy grid, such as various devices within one or more power plants, energy farms (e.g., wind farm, solar farm, among others) energy storage facilities, factories, homes and businesses of consumers, among others. One or more of such devices may include one or more sensors that detect energy gain or loss, electrical input or output or loss, and a variety of other efficiencies. These sensors may collect data to inform users of how the energy grid, and individual devices within the grid, may be functioning and how they may be made more efficient.

Network device sensors may also perform processing on data it collects before transmitting the data to the computing environment 114, or before deciding whether to transmit data to the computing environment 114. For example, network devices may determine whether data collected meets certain rules, for example by comparing data or values calculated from the data and comparing that data to one or more thresholds. The network device may use this data and/or comparisons to determine if the data should be transmitted to the computing environment 214 for further use or processing.

Computing environment 214 may include machines 220 and 240. Although computing environment 214 is shown in FIG. 2 as having two machines, 220 and 240, computing environment 214 may have only one machine or may have more than two machines. The machines that make up computing environment 214 may include specialized computers, servers, or other machines that are configured to individually and/or collectively process large amounts of data. The computing environment 214 may also include storage devices that include one or more databases of structured data, such as data organized in one or more hierarchies, or unstructured data. The databases may communicate with the processing devices within computing environment 214 to distribute data to them. Since network devices may transmit data to computing environment 214, that data may be received by the computing environment 214 and subsequently stored within those storage devices. Data used by computing environment 214 may also be stored in data stores 235, which may also be a part of or connected to computing environment 214.

Computing environment 214 can communicate with various devices via one or more routers 225 or other inter-network or intra-network connection components. For example, computing environment 214 may communicate with devices 230 via one or more routers 225. Computing environment 214 may collect, analyze and/or store data from or pertaining to communications, client device operations, client rules, and/or user-associated actions stored at one or more data stores 235. Such data may influence communication routing to the devices within computing environment 214, how data is stored or processed within computing environment 214, among other actions.

Notably, various other devices can further be used to influence communication routing and/or processing between devices within computing environment 214 and with devices outside of computing environment 214. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, computing environment 214 may include a web server 240. Thus, computing environment 214 can retrieve data of interest, such as client information (e.g., product information, client rules, etc.), technical product details, news, current or predicted weather, and so on.

In addition to computing environment 214 collecting data (e.g., as received from network devices, such as sensors, and client devices or other sources) to be processed as part of a big data analytics project, it may also receive data in real time as part of a streaming analytics environment. As noted, data may be collected using a variety of sources as communicated via different kinds of networks or locally. Such data may be received on a real-time streaming basis. For example, network devices may receive data periodically from network device sensors as the sensors continuously sense, monitor and track changes in their environments. Devices within computing environment 214 may also perform pre-analysis on data it receives to determine if the data received should be processed as part of an ongoing project. The data received and collected by computing environment 214, no matter what the source or method or timing of receipt, may be processed over a period of time for a client to determine results data based on the client's needs and rules.

FIG. 3 illustrates a representation of a conceptual model of a communications protocol system, according to embodiments of the present technology. More specifically, FIG. 3 identifies operation of a computing environment in an Open Systems Interaction model that corresponds to various connection components. The model 300 shows, for example, how a computing environment, such as computing environment 314 (or computing environment 214 in FIG. 2) may communicate with other devices in its network, and control how communications between the computing environment and other devices are executed and under what conditions.

The model can include layers 301-307. The layers are arranged in a stack. Each layer in the stack serves the layer one level higher than it (except for the application layer, which is the highest layer), and is served by the layer one level below it (except for the physical layer, which is the lowest layer). The physical layer is the lowest layer because it receives and transmits raw bites of data, and is the farthest layer from the user in a communications system. On the other hand, the application layer is the highest layer because it interacts directly with a software application.

As noted, the model includes a physical layer 301. Physical layer 301 represents physical communication, and can define parameters of that physical communication. For example, such physical communication may come in the form of electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signals. Physical layer 301 also defines protocols that may control communications within a data transmission network.

Link layer 302 defines links and mechanisms used to transmit (i.e., move) data across a network. The link layer 302 manages node-to-node communications, such as within a grid computing environment. Link layer 302 can detect and correct errors (e.g., transmission errors in the physical layer 301). Link layer 302 can also include a media access control (MAC) layer and logical link control (LLC) layer.

Network layer 303 defines the protocol for routing within a network. In other words, the network layer coordinates transferring data across nodes in a same network (e.g., such as a grid computing environment). Network layer 303 can also define the processes used to structure local addressing within the network.

Transport layer 304 can manage the transmission of data and the quality of the transmission and/or receipt of that data. Transport layer 304 can provide a protocol for transferring data, such as, for example, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Transport layer 304 can assemble and disassemble data frames for transmission. The transport layer can also detect transmission errors occurring in the layers below it.

Session layer 305 can establish, maintain, and manage communication connections between devices on a network. In other words, the session layer controls the dialogues or nature of communications between network devices on the network. The session layer may also establish checkpointing, adjournment, termination, and restart procedures.

Presentation layer 306 can provide translation for communications between the application and network layers. In other words, this layer may encrypt, decrypt and/or format data based on data types and/or encodings known to be accepted by an application or network layer.

Application layer 307 interacts directly with software applications and end users, and manages communications between them. Application layer 307 can identify destinations, local resource states or availability and/or communication content or formatting using the applications.

Intra-network connection components 321 and 322 are shown to operate in lower levels, such as physical layer 301 and link layer 302, respectively. For example, a hub can operate in the physical layer, a switch can operate in the link layer, and a router can operate in the network layer. Inter-network connection components 323 and 328 are shown to operate on higher levels, such as layers 303-307. For example, routers can operate in the network layer and network devices can operate in the transport, session, presentation, and application layers.

As noted, a computing environment 314 can interact with and/or operate on, in various embodiments, one, more, all or any of the various layers. For example, computing environment 314 can interact with a hub (e.g., via the link layer) so as to adjust which devices the hub communicates with. The physical layer may be served by the link layer, so it may implement such data from the link layer. For example, the computing environment 314 may control which devices it will receive data from. For example, if the computing environment 314 knows that a certain network device has turned off, broken, or otherwise become unavailable or unreliable, the computing environment 314 may instruct the hub to prevent any data from being transmitted to the computing environment 314 from that network device. Such a process may be beneficial to avoid receiving data that is inaccurate or that has been influenced by an uncontrolled environment. As another example, computing environment 314 can communicate with a bridge, switch, router or gateway and influence which device within the system (e.g., system 200) the component selects as a destination. In some embodiments, computing environment 314 can interact with various layers by exchanging communications with equipment operating on a particular layer by routing or modifying existing communications. In another embodiment, such as in a grid computing environment, a node may determine how data within the environment should be routed (e.g., which node should receive certain data) based on certain parameters or information provided by other layers within the model.

As noted, the computing environment 314 may be a part of a communications grid environment, the communications of which may be implemented as shown in the protocol of FIG. 3. For example, referring back to FIG. 2, one or more of machines 220 and 240 may be part of a communications grid computing environment. A gridded computing environment may be employed in a distributed system with non-interactive workloads where data resides in memory on the machines, or compute nodes. In such an environment, analytic code, instead of a database management system, controls the processing performed by the nodes. Data is co-located by pre-distributing it to the grid nodes, and the analytic code on each node loads the local data into memory. Each node may be assigned a particular task such as a portion of a processing project, or to organize or control other nodes within the grid.

FIG. 4 illustrates a communications grid computing system 400 including a variety of control and worker nodes, according to embodiments of the present technology. Communications grid computing system 400 includes three control nodes and one or more worker nodes. Communications grid computing system 400 includes control nodes 402, 404, and 406. The control nodes are communicatively connected via communication paths 451, 453, and 455. Therefore, the control nodes may transmit information (e.g., related to the communications grid or notifications), to and receive information from each other. Although communications grid computing system 400 is shown in FIG. 4 as including three control nodes, the communications grid may include more or less than three control nodes.

Communications grid computing system (or just “communications grid”) 400 also includes one or more worker nodes. Shown in FIG. 4 are six worker nodes 410-420. Although FIG. 4 shows six worker nodes, a communications grid according to embodiments of the present technology may include more or less than six worker nodes. The number of worker nodes included in a communications grid may be dependent upon how large the project or data set is being processed by the communications grid, the capacity of each worker node, the time designated for the communications grid to complete the project, among others. Each worker node within the communications grid 400 may be connected (wired or wirelessly, and directly or indirectly) to control nodes 402-406. Therefore, each worker node may receive information from the control nodes (e.g., an instruction to perform work on a project) and may transmit information to the control nodes (e.g., a result from work performed on a project). Furthermore, worker nodes may communicate with each other (either directly or indirectly). For example, worker nodes may transmit data between each other related to a job being performed or an individual task within a job being performed by that worker node. However, in certain embodiments, worker nodes may not, for example, be connected (communicatively or otherwise) to certain other worker nodes. In an embodiment, worker nodes may only be able to communicate with the control node that controls it, and may not be able to communicate with other worker nodes in the communications grid, whether they are other worker nodes controlled by the control node that controls the worker node, or worker nodes that are controlled by other control nodes in the communications grid.

A control node may connect with an external device with which the control node may communicate (e.g., a grid user, such as a server or computer, may connect to a controller of the grid). For example, a server or computer may connect to control nodes and may transmit a project or job to the node. The project may include a data set. The data set may be of any size. Once the control node receives such a project including a large data set, the control node may distribute the data set or projects related to the data set to be performed by worker nodes. Alternatively, for a project including a large data set, the data set may be received or stored by a machine other than a control node (e.g., a HADOOP® standard-compliant data node employing the HADOOP® Distributed File System, or HDFS).

Control nodes may maintain knowledge of the status of the nodes in the grid (i.e., grid status information), accept work requests from clients, subdivide the work across worker nodes, coordinate the worker nodes, among other responsibilities. Worker nodes may accept work requests from a control node and provide the control node with results of the work performed by the worker node. A grid may be started from a single node (e.g., a machine, computer, server, etc.). This first node may be assigned or may start as the primary control node that will control any additional nodes that enter the grid.

When a project is submitted for execution (e.g., by a client or a controller of the grid) it may be assigned to a set of nodes. After the nodes are assigned to a project, a data structure (i.e., a communicator) may be created. The communicator may be used by the project for information to be shared between the project code running on each node. A communication handle may be created on each node. A handle, for example, is a reference to the communicator that is valid within a single process on a single node, and the handle may be used when requesting communications between nodes.

A control node, such as control node 402, may be designated as the primary control node. A server, computer or other external device may connect to the primary control node. Once the control node receives a project, the primary control node may distribute portions of the project to its worker nodes for execution. For example, when a project is initiated on communications grid 400, primary control node 402 controls the work to be performed for the project in order to complete the project as requested or instructed. The primary control node may distribute work to the worker nodes based on various factors, such as which subsets or portions of projects may be completed most efficiently and in the correct amount of time. For example, a worker node may perform analysis on a portion of data that is already local (e.g., stored on) the worker node. The primary control node also coordinates and processes the results of the work performed by each worker node after each worker node executes and completes its job. For example, the primary control node may receive a result from one or more worker nodes, and the control node may organize (e.g., collect and assemble) the results received and compile them to produce a complete result for the project received from the end user.

Any remaining control nodes, such as control nodes 404 and 406, may be assigned as backup control nodes for the project. In an embodiment, backup control nodes may not control any portion of the project. Instead, backup control nodes may serve as a backup for the primary control node and take over as primary control node if the primary control node were to fail. If a communications grid were to include only a single control node, and the control node were to fail (e.g., the control node is shut off or breaks) then the communications grid as a whole may fail and any project or job being run on the communications grid may fail and may not complete. While the project may be run again, such a failure may cause a delay (severe delay in some cases, such as overnight delay) in completion of the project. Therefore, a grid with multiple control nodes, including a backup control node, may be beneficial.

To add another node or machine to the grid, the primary control node may open a pair of listening sockets, for example. A socket may be used to accept work requests from clients, and the second socket may be used to accept connections from other grid nodes. The primary control node may be provided with a list of other nodes (e.g., other machines, computers, servers) that will participate in the grid, and the role that each node will fill in the grid. Upon startup of the primary control node (e.g., the first node on the grid), the primary control node may use a network protocol to start the server process on every other node in the grid. Command line parameters, for example, may inform each node of one or more pieces of information, such as: the role that the node will have in the grid, the host name of the primary control node, the port number on which the primary control node is accepting connections from peer nodes, among others. The information may also be provided in a configuration file, transmitted over a secure shell tunnel, recovered from a configuration server, among others. While the other machines in the grid may not initially know about the configuration of the grid, that information may also be sent to each other node by the primary control node. Updates of the grid information may also be subsequently sent to those nodes.

For any control node other than the primary control node added to the grid, the control node may open three sockets. The first socket may accept work requests from clients, the second socket may accept connections from other grid members, and the third socket may connect (e.g., permanently) to the primary control node. When a control node (e.g., primary control node) receives a connection from another control node, it first checks to see if the peer node is in the list of configured nodes in the grid. If it is not on the list, the control node may clear the connection. If it is on the list, it may then attempt to authenticate the connection. If authentication is successful, the authenticating node may transmit information to its peer, such as the port number on which a node is listening for connections, the host name of the node, information about how to authenticate the node, among other information. When a node, such as the new control node, receives information about another active node, it will check to see if it already has a connection to that other node. If it does not have a connection to that node, it may then establish a connection to that control node.

Any worker node added to the grid may establish a connection to the primary control node and any other control nodes on the grid. After establishing the connection, it may authenticate itself to the grid (e.g., any control nodes, including both primary and backup, or a server or user controlling the grid). After successful authentication, the worker node may accept configuration information from the control node.

When a node joins a communications grid (e.g., when the node is powered on or connected to an existing node on the grid or both), the node is assigned (e.g., by an operating system of the grid) a universally unique identifier (UUID). This unique identifier may help other nodes and external entities (devices, users, etc.) to identify the node and distinguish it from other nodes. When a node is connected to the grid, the node may share its unique identifier with the other nodes in the grid. Since each node may share its unique identifier, each node may know the unique identifier of every other node on the grid. Unique identifiers may also designate a hierarchy of each of the nodes (e.g., backup control nodes) within the grid. For example, the unique identifiers of each of the backup control nodes may be stored in a list of backup control nodes to indicate an order in which the backup control nodes will take over for a failed primary control node to become a new primary control node. However, a hierarchy of nodes may also be determined using methods other than using the unique identifiers of the nodes. For example, the hierarchy may be predetermined, or may be assigned based on other predetermined factors.

The grid may add new machines at any time (e.g., initiated from any control node). Upon adding a new node to the grid, the control node may first add the new node to its table of grid nodes. The control node may also then notify every other control node about the new node. The nodes receiving the notification may acknowledge that they have updated their configuration information.

Primary control node 402 may, for example, transmit one or more communications to backup control nodes 404 and 406 (and, for example, to other control or worker nodes within the communications grid). Such communications may sent periodically, at fixed time intervals, between known fixed stages of the project's execution, among other protocols. The communications transmitted by primary control node 402 may be of varied types and may include a variety of types of information. For example, primary control node 402 may transmit snapshots (e.g., status information) of the communications grid so that backup control node 404 always has a recent snapshot of the communications grid. The snapshot or grid status may include, for example, the structure of the grid (including, for example, the worker nodes in the grid, unique identifiers of the nodes, or their relationships with the primary control node) and the status of a project (including, for example, the status of each worker node's portion of the project). The snapshot may also include analysis or results received from worker nodes in the communications grid. The backup control nodes may receive and store the backup data received from the primary control node. The backup control nodes may transmit a request for such a snapshot (or other information) from the primary control node, or the primary control node may send such information periodically to the backup control nodes.

As noted, the backup data may allow the backup control node to take over as primary control node if the primary control node fails without requiring the grid to start the project over from scratch. If the primary control node fails, the backup control node that will take over as primary control node may retrieve the most recent version of the snapshot received from the primary control node and use the snapshot to continue the project from the stage of the project indicated by the backup data. This may prevent failure of the project as a whole.

A backup control node may use various methods to determine that the primary control node has failed. In one example of such a method, the primary control node may transmit (e.g., periodically) a communication to the backup control node that indicates that the primary control node is working and has not failed, such as a heartbeat communication. The backup control node may determine that the primary control node has failed if the backup control node has not received a heartbeat communication for a certain predetermined period of time. Alternatively, a backup control node may also receive a communication from the primary control node itself (before it failed) or from a worker node that the primary control node has failed, for example because the primary control node has failed to communicate with the worker node.

Different methods may be performed to determine which backup control node of a set of backup control nodes (e.g., backup control nodes 404 and 406) will take over for failed primary control node 402 and become the new primary control node. For example, the new primary control node may be chosen based on a ranking or “hierarchy” of backup control nodes based on their unique identifiers. In an alternative embodiment, a backup control node may be assigned to be the new primary control node by another device in the communications grid or from an external device (e.g., a system infrastructure or an end user, such as a server or computer, controlling the communications grid). In another alternative embodiment, the backup control node that takes over as the new primary control node may be designated based on bandwidth or other statistics about the communications grid.

A worker node within the communications grid may also fail. If a worker node fails, work being performed by the failed worker node may be redistributed amongst the operational worker nodes. In an alternative embodiment, the primary control node may transmit a communication to each of the operable worker nodes still on the communications grid that each of the worker nodes should purposefully fail also. After each of the worker nodes fail, they may each retrieve their most recent saved checkpoint of their status and re-start the project from that checkpoint to minimize lost progress on the project being executed.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart showing an example process 500 for adjusting a communications grid or a work project in a communications grid after a failure of a node, according to embodiments of the present technology. The process may include, for example, receiving grid status information including a project status of a portion of a project being executed by a node in the communications grid, as described in operation 502. For example, a control node (e.g., a backup control node connected to a primary control node and a worker node on a communications grid) may receive grid status information, where the grid status information includes a project status of the primary control node or a project status of the worker node. The project status of the primary control node and the project status of the worker node may include a status of one or more portions of a project being executed by the primary and worker nodes in the communications grid. The process may also include storing the grid status information, as described in operation 504. For example, a control node (e.g., a backup control node) may store the received grid status information locally within the control node. Alternatively, the grid status information may be sent to another device for storage where the control node may have access to the information.

The process may also include receiving a failure communication corresponding to a node in the communications grid in operation 506. For example, a node may receive a failure communication including an indication that the primary control node has failed, prompting a backup control node to take over for the primary control node. In an alternative embodiment, a node may receive a failure that a worker node has failed, prompting a control node to reassign the work being performed by the worker node. The process may also include reassigning a node or a portion of the project being executed by the failed node, as described in operation 508. For example, a control node may designate the backup control node as a new primary control node based on the failure communication upon receiving the failure communication. If the failed node is a worker node, a control node may identify a project status of the failed worker node using the snapshot of the communications grid, where the project status of the failed worker node includes a status of a portion of the project being executed by the failed worker node at the failure time.

The process may also include receiving updated grid status information based on the reassignment, as described in operation 510, and transmitting a set of instructions based on the updated grid status information to one or more nodes in the communications grid, as described in operation 512. The updated grid status information may include an updated project status of the primary control node or an updated project status of the worker node. The updated information may be transmitted to the other nodes in the grid to update their stale stored information.

FIG. 6 illustrates a portion of a communications grid computing system 600 including a control node and a worker node, according to embodiments of the present technology. Communications grid 600 computing system includes one control node (control node 602) and one worker node (worker node 610) for purposes of illustration, but may include more worker and/or control nodes. The control node 602 is communicatively connected to worker node 610 via communication path 650. Therefore, control node 602 may transmit information (e.g., related to the communications grid or notifications), to and receive information from worker node 610 via path 650.

Similar to in FIG. 4, communications grid computing system (or just “communications grid”) 600 includes data processing nodes (control node 602 and worker node 610). Nodes 602 and 610 include multi-core data processors. Each node 602 and 610 includes a grid-enabled software component (GESC) 620 that executes on the data processor associated with that node and interfaces with buffer memory 622 also associated with that node. Each node 602 and 610 includes a database management software (DBMS) 628 that executes on a database server (not shown) at control node 602 and on a database server (not shown) at worker node 610.

Each node also includes a data store 624. Data stores 624, similar to network-attached data stores 110 in FIG. 1 and data stores 235 in FIG. 2, are used to store data to be processed by the nodes in the computing environment. Data stores 624 may also store any intermediate or final data generated by the computing system after being processed, for example in non-volatile memory. However in certain embodiments, the configuration of the grid computing environment allows its operations to be performed such that intermediate and final data results can be stored solely in volatile memory (e.g., RAM), without a requirement that intermediate or final data results be stored to non-volatile types of memory. Storing such data in volatile memory may be useful in certain situations, such as when the grid receives queries (e.g., ad hoc) from a client and when responses, which are generated by processing large amounts of data, need to be generated quickly or on-the-fly. In such a situation, the grid may be configured to retain the data within memory so that responses can be generated at different levels of detail and so that a client may interactively query against this information.

Each node also includes a user-defined function (UDF) 626. The UDF provides a mechanism for the DBMS 628 to transfer data to or receive data from the database stored in the data stores 624 that are managed by the DBMS. For example, UDF 626 can be invoked by the DBMS to provide data to the GESC for processing. The UDF 626 may establish a socket connection (not shown) with the GESC to transfer the data. Alternatively, the UDF 626 can transfer data to the GESC by writing data to shared memory accessible by both the UDF and the GESC.

The GESC 620 at the nodes 602 and 620 may be connected via a network, such as network 108 shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, nodes 602 and 620 can communicate with each other via the network using a predetermined communication protocol such as, for example, the Message Passing Interface (MPI). Each GESC 620 can engage in point-to-point communication with the GESC at another node or in collective communication with multiple GESCs via the network. The GESC 620 at each node may contain identical (or nearly identical) software instructions. Each node may be capable of operating as either a control node or a worker node. The GESC at the control node 602 can communicate, over a communication path 652, with a client device 630. More specifically, control node 602 may communicate with client application 632 hosted by the client device 630 to receive queries and to respond to those queries after processing large amounts of data.

DBMS 628 may control the creation, maintenance, and use of database or data structure (not shown) within a nodes 602 or 610. The database may organize data stored in data stores 624. The DBMS 628 at control node 602 may accept requests for data and transfer the appropriate data for the request. With such a process, collections of data may be distributed across multiple physical locations. In this example, each node 602 and 610 stores a portion of the total data managed by the management system in its associated data store 624.

Furthermore, the DBMS may be responsible for protecting against data loss using replication techniques. Replication includes providing a backup copy of data stored on one node on one or more other nodes. Therefore, if one node fails, the data from the failed node can be recovered from a replicated copy residing at another node. However, as described herein with respect to FIG. 4, data or status information for each node in the communications grid may also be shared with each node on the grid.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart showing an example method 700 for executing a project within a grid computing system, according to embodiments of the present technology. As described with respect to FIG. 6, the GESC at the control node may transmit data with a client device (e.g., client device 630) to receive queries for executing a project and to respond to those queries after large amounts of data have been processed. The query may be transmitted to the control node, where the query may include a request for executing a project, as described in operation 702. The query can contain instructions on the type of data analysis to be performed in the project and whether the project should be executed using the grid-based computing environment, as shown in operation 704.

To initiate the project, the control node may determine if the query requests use of the grid-based computing environment to execute the project. If the determination is no, then the control node initiates execution of the project in a solo environment (e.g., at the control node), as described in operation 710. If the determination is yes, the control node may initiate execution of the project in the grid-based computing environment, as described in operation 706. In such a situation, the request may include a requested configuration of the grid. For example, the request may include a number of control nodes and a number of worker nodes to be used in the grid when executing the project. After the project has been completed, the control node may transmit results of the analysis yielded by the grid, as described in operation 708. Whether the project is executed in a solo or grid-based environment, the control node provides the results of the project, as described in operation 712.

As noted with respect to FIG. 2, the computing environments described herein may collect data (e.g., as received from network devices, such as sensors, such as network devices 204-209 in FIG. 2, and client devices or other sources) to be processed as part of a data analytics project, and data may be received in real time as part of a streaming analytics environment (e.g., ESP). Data may be collected using a variety of sources as communicated via different kinds of networks or locally, such as on a real-time streaming basis. For example, network devices may receive data periodically from network device sensors as the sensors continuously sense, monitor and track changes in their environments. More specifically, an increasing number of distributed applications develop or produce continuously flowing data from distributed sources by applying queries to the data before distributing the data to geographically distributed recipients. An event stream processing engine (ESPE) may continuously apply the queries to the data as it is received and determines which entities should receive the data. Client or other devices may also subscribe to the ESPE or other devices processing ESP data so that they can receive data after processing, based on for example the entities determined by the processing engine. For example, client devices 230 in FIG. 2 may subscribe to the ESPE in computing environment 214. In another example, event subscription devices 1024 a-c, described further with respect to FIG. 10, may also subscribe to the ESPE. The ESPE may determine or define how input data or event streams from network devices or other publishers (e.g., network devices 204-209 in FIG. 2) are transformed into meaningful output data to be consumed by subscribers, such as for example client devices 230 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram including components of an Event Stream Processing Engine (ESPE), according to embodiments of the present technology. ESPE 800 may include one or more projects 802. A project may be described as a second-level container in an engine model managed by ESPE 800 where a thread pool size for the project may be defined by a user. Each project of the one or more projects 802 may include one or more continuous queries 804 that contain data flows, which are data transformations of incoming event streams. The one or more continuous queries 804 may include one or more source windows 806 and one or more derived windows 808.

The ESPE may receive streaming data over a period of time related to certain events, such as events or other data sensed by one or more network devices. The ESPE may perform operations associated with processing data created by the one or more devices. For example, the ESPE may receive data from the one or more network devices 204-209 shown in FIG. 2. As noted, the network devices may include sensors that sense different aspects of their environments, and may collect data over time based on those sensed observations. For example, the ESPE may be implemented within one or more of machines 220 and 240 shown in FIG. 2. The ESPE may be implemented within such a machine by an ESP application. An ESP application may embed an ESPE with its own dedicated thread pool or pools into its application space where the main application thread can do application-specific work and the ESPE processes event streams at least by creating an instance of a model into processing objects.

The engine container is the top-level container in a model that manages the resources of the one or more projects 802. In an illustrative embodiment, for example, there may be only one ESPE 800 for each instance of the ESP application, and ESPE 800 may have a unique engine name. Additionally, the one or more projects 802 may each have unique project names, and each query may have a unique continuous query name and begin with a uniquely named source window of the one or more source windows 806. ESPE 800 may or may not be persistent.

Continuous query modeling involves defining directed graphs of windows for event stream manipulation and transformation. A window in the context of event stream manipulation and transformation is a processing node in an event stream processing model. A window in a continuous query can perform aggregations, computations, pattern-matching, and other operations on data flowing through the window. A continuous query may be described as a directed graph of source, relational, pattern matching, and procedural windows. The one or more source windows 806 and the one or more derived windows 808 represent continuously executing queries that generate updates to a query result set as new event blocks stream through ESPE 800. A directed graph, for example, is a set of nodes connected by edges, where the edges have a direction associated with them.

An event object may be described as a packet of data accessible as a collection of fields, with at least one of the fields defined as a key or unique identifier (ID). The event object may be created using a variety of formats including binary, alphanumeric, XML, etc. Each event object may include one or more fields designated as a primary identifier (ID) for the event so ESPE 800 can support operation codes (opcodes) for events including insert, update, upsert, and delete. Upsert opcodes update the event if the key field already exists; otherwise, the event is inserted. For illustration, an event object may be a packed binary representation of a set of field values and include both metadata and field data associated with an event. The metadata may include an opcode indicating if the event represents an insert, update, delete, or upsert, a set of flags indicating if the event is a normal, partial-update, or a retention generated event from retention policy management, and a set of microsecond timestamps that can be used for latency measurements.

An event block object may be described as a grouping or package of event objects. An event stream may be described as a flow of event block objects. A continuous query of the one or more continuous queries 804 transforms a source event stream made up of streaming event block objects published into ESPE 800 into one or more output event streams using the one or more source windows 806 and the one or more derived windows 808. A continuous query can also be thought of as data flow modeling.

The one or more source windows 806 are at the top of the directed graph and have no windows feeding into them. Event streams are published into the one or more source windows 806, and from there, the event streams may be directed to the next set of connected windows as defined by the directed graph. The one or more derived windows 808 are all instantiated windows that are not source windows and that have other windows streaming events into them. The one or more derived windows 808 may perform computations or transformations on the incoming event streams. The one or more derived windows 808 transform event streams based on the window type (that is operators such as join, filter, compute, aggregate, copy, pattern match, procedural, union, etc.) and window settings. As event streams are published into ESPE 800, they are continuously queried, and the resulting sets of derived windows in these queries are continuously updated.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart showing an example process including operations performed by an event stream processing engine, according to some embodiments of the present technology. As noted, the ESPE 800 (or an associated ESP application) defines how input event streams are transformed into meaningful output event streams. More specifically, the ESP application may define how input event streams from publishers (e.g., network devices providing sensed data) are transformed into meaningful output event streams consumed by subscribers (e.g., a data analytics project being executed by a machine or set of machines).

Within the application, a user may interact with one or more user interface windows presented to the user in a display under control of the ESPE independently or through a browser application in an order selectable by the user. For example, a user may execute an ESP application, which causes presentation of a first user interface window, which may include a plurality of menus and selectors such as drop down menus, buttons, text boxes, hyperlinks, etc. associated with the ESP application as understood by a person of skill in the art. As further understood by a person of skill in the art, various operations may be performed in parallel, for example, using a plurality of threads.

At operation 900, an ESP application may define and start an ESPE, thereby instantiating an ESPE at a device, such as machine 220 and/or 240. In an operation 902, the engine container is created. For illustration, ESPE 800 may be instantiated using a function call that specifies the engine container as a manager for the model.

In an operation 904, the one or more continuous queries 804 are instantiated by ESPE 800 as a model. The one or more continuous queries 804 may be instantiated with a dedicated thread pool or pools that generate updates as new events stream through ESPE 800. For illustration, the one or more continuous queries 804 may be created to model business processing logic within ESPE 800, to predict events within ESPE 800, to model a physical system within ESPE 800, to predict the physical system state within ESPE 800, etc. For example, as noted, ESPE 800 may be used to support sensor data monitoring and management (e.g., sensing may include force, torque, load, strain, position, temperature, air pressure, fluid flow, chemical properties, resistance, electromagnetic fields, radiation, irradiance, proximity, acoustics, moisture, distance, speed, vibrations, acceleration, electrical potential, or electrical current, etc.).

ESPE 800 may analyze and process events in motion or “event streams.” Instead of storing data and running queries against the stored data, ESPE 800 may store queries and stream data through them to allow continuous analysis of data as it is received. The one or more source windows 806 and the one or more derived windows 808 may be created based on the relational, pattern matching, and procedural algorithms that transform the input event streams into the output event streams to model, simulate, score, test, predict, etc. based on the continuous query model defined and application to the streamed data.

In an operation 906, a publish/subscribe (pub/sub) capability is initialized for ESPE 800. In an illustrative embodiment, a pub/sub capability is initialized for each project of the one or more projects 802. To initialize and enable pub/sub capability for ESPE 800, a port number may be provided. Pub/sub clients can use a host name of an ESP device running the ESPE and the port number to establish pub/sub connections to ESPE 800.

FIG. 10 illustrates an ESP system 1000 interfacing between publishing device 1022 and event subscribing devices 1024 a-c, according to embodiments of the present technology. ESP system 1000 may include ESP device or subsystem 851, event publishing device 1022, an event subscribing device A 1024 a, an event subscribing device B 1024 b, and an event subscribing device C 1024 c. Input event streams are output to ESP device 851 by publishing device 1022. In alternative embodiments, the input event streams may be created by a plurality of publishing devices. The plurality of publishing devices further may publish event streams to other ESP devices. The one or more continuous queries instantiated by ESPE 800 may analyze and process the input event streams to form output event streams output to event subscribing device A 1024 a, event subscribing device B 1024 b, and event subscribing device C 1024 c. ESP system 1000 may include a greater or a fewer number of event subscribing devices of event subscribing devices.

Publish-subscribe is a message-oriented interaction paradigm based on indirect addressing. Processed data recipients specify their interest in receiving information from ESPE 800 by subscribing to specific classes of events, while information sources publish events to ESPE 800 without directly addressing the receiving parties. ESPE 800 coordinates the interactions and processes the data. In some cases, the data source receives confirmation that the published information has been received by a data recipient.

A publish/subscribe API may be described as a library that enables an event publisher, such as publishing device 1022, to publish event streams into ESPE 800 or an event subscriber, such as event subscribing device A 1024 a, event subscribing device B 1024 b, and event subscribing device C 1024 c, to subscribe to event streams from ESPE 800. For illustration, one or more publish/subscribe APIs may be defined. Using the publish/subscribe API, an event publishing application may publish event streams into a running event stream processor project source window of ESPE 800, and the event subscription application may subscribe to an event stream processor project source window of ESPE 800.

The publish/subscribe API provides cross-platform connectivity and endianness compatibility between ESP application and other networked applications, such as event publishing applications instantiated at publishing device 1022, and event subscription applications instantiated at one or more of event subscribing device A 1024 a, event subscribing device B 1024 b, and event subscribing device C 1024 c.

Referring back to FIG. 9, operation 906 initializes the publish/subscribe capability of ESPE 800. In an operation 908, the one or more projects 802 are started. The one or more started projects may run in the background on an ESP device. In an operation 910, an event block object is received from one or more computing device of the event publishing device 1022.

ESP subsystem 800 may include a publishing client 1002, ESPE 800, a subscribing client A 1004, a subscribing client B 1006, and a subscribing client C 1008. Publishing client 1002 may be started by an event publishing application executing at publishing device 1022 using the publish/subscribe API. Subscribing client A 1004 may be started by an event subscription application A, executing at event subscribing device A 1024 a using the publish/subscribe API. Subscribing client B 1006 may be started by an event subscription application B executing at event subscribing device B 1024 b using the publish/subscribe API. Subscribing client C 1008 may be started by an event subscription application C executing at event subscribing device C 1024 c using the publish/subscribe API.

An event block object containing one or more event objects is injected into a source window of the one or more source windows 806 from an instance of an event publishing application on event publishing device 1022. The event block object may generated, for example, by the event publishing application and may be received by publishing client 1002. A unique ID may be maintained as the event block object is passed between the one or more source windows 806 and/or the one or more derived windows 808 of ESPE 800, and to subscribing client A 1004, subscribing client B 1006, and subscribing client C 1008 and to event subscription device A 1024 a, event subscription device B 1024 b, and event subscription device C 1024 c. Publishing client 1002 may further generate and include a unique embedded transaction ID in the event block object as the event block object is processed by a continuous query, as well as the unique ID that publishing device 1022 assigned to the event block object.

In an operation 912, the event block object is processed through the one or more continuous queries 804. In an operation 914, the processed event block object is output to one or more computing devices of the event subscribing devices 1024 a-c. For example, subscribing client A 1004, subscribing client B 1006, and subscribing client C 1008 may send the received event block object to event subscription device A 1024 a, event subscription device B 1024 b, and event subscription device C 1024 c, respectively.

ESPE 800 maintains the event block containership aspect of the received event blocks from when the event block is published into a source window and works its way through the directed graph defined by the one or more continuous queries 804 with the various event translations before being output to subscribers. Subscribers can correlate a group of subscribed events back to a group of published events by comparing the unique ID of the event block object that a publisher, such as publishing device 1022, attached to the event block object with the event block ID received by the subscriber.

In an operation 916, a determination is made concerning whether or not processing is stopped. If processing is not stopped, processing continues in operation 910 to continue receiving the one or more event streams containing event block objects from the, for example, one or more network devices. If processing is stopped, processing continues in an operation 918. In operation 918, the started projects are stopped. In operation 920, the ESPE is shutdown.

As noted, in some embodiments, big data is processed for an analytics project after the data is received and stored. In other embodiments, distributed applications process continuously flowing data in real-time from distributed sources by applying queries to the data before distributing the data to geographically distributed recipients. As noted, an event stream processing engine (ESPE) may continuously apply the queries to the data as it is received and determines which entities receive the processed data. This allows for large amounts of data being received and/or collected in a variety of environments to be processed and distributed in real time. For example, as shown with respect to FIG. 2, data may be collected from network devices that may include devices within the internet of things, such as devices within a home automation network. However, such data may be collected from a variety of different resources in a variety of different environments. In any such situation, embodiments of the present technology allow for real-time processing of such data.

Aspects of the current disclosure provide technical solutions to technical problems, such as computing problems that arise when an ESP device fails which results in a complete service interruption and potentially significant data loss. The data loss can be catastrophic when the streamed data is supporting mission critical operations such as those in support of an ongoing manufacturing or drilling operation. An embodiment of an ESP system achieves a rapid and seamless failover of ESPE running at the plurality of ESP devices without service interruption or data loss, thus significantly improving the reliability of an operational system that relies on the live or real-time processing of the data streams. The event publishing systems, the event subscribing systems, and each ESPE not executing at a failed ESP device are not aware of or effected by the failed ESP device. The ESP system may include thousands of event publishing systems and event subscribing systems. The ESP system keeps the failover logic and awareness within the boundaries of out-messaging network connector and out-messaging network device.

In one example embodiment, a system is provided to support a failover when event stream processing (ESP) event blocks. The system includes, but is not limited to, an out-messaging network device and a computing device. The computing device includes, but is not limited to, a processor and a computer-readable medium operably coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to execute an ESP engine (ESPE). The computer-readable medium has instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to support the failover. An event block object is received from the ESPE that includes a unique identifier. A first status of the computing device as active or standby is determined. When the first status is active, a second status of the computing device as newly active or not newly active is determined. Newly active is determined when the computing device is switched from a standby status to an active status. When the second status is newly active, a last published event block object identifier that uniquely identifies a last published event block object is determined. A next event block object is selected from a non-transitory computer-readable medium accessible by the computing device. The next event block object has an event block object identifier that is greater than the determined last published event block object identifier. The selected next event block object is published to an out-messaging network device. When the second status of the computing device is not newly active, the received event block object is published to the out-messaging network device. When the first status of the computing device is standby, the received event block object is stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an example of a process for generating and using a machine-learning model according to some aspects. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that relates to mathematical models that can learn from, categorize, and make predictions about data. Such mathematical models, which can be referred to as machine-learning models, can classify input data among two or more classes; cluster input data among two or more groups; predict a result based on input data; identify patterns or trends in input data; identify a distribution of input data in a space; or any combination of these. Examples of machine-learning models can include (i) neural networks; (ii) decision trees, such as classification trees and regression trees; (iii) classifiers, such as Naïve bias classifiers, logistic regression classifiers, ridge regression classifiers, random forest classifiers, least absolute shrinkage and selector (LASSO) classifiers, and support vector machines; (iv) clusterers, such as k-means clusterers, mean-shift clusterers, and spectral clusterers; (v) factorizers, such as factorization machines, principal component analyzers and kernel principal component analyzers; and (vi) ensembles or other combinations of machine-learning models. In some examples, neural networks can include deep neural networks, feed-forward neural networks, recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks, radial basis function (RBF) neural networks, echo state neural networks, long short-term memory neural networks, bi-directional recurrent neural networks, gated neural networks, hierarchical recurrent neural networks, stochastic neural networks, modular neural networks, spiking neural networks, dynamic neural networks, cascading neural networks, neuro-fuzzy neural networks, or any combination of these.

Different machine-learning models may be used interchangeably to perform a task. Examples of tasks that can be performed at least partially using machine-learning models include various types of scoring; bioinformatics; cheminformatics; software engineering; fraud detection; customer segmentation; generating online recommendations; adaptive websites; determining customer lifetime value; search engines; placing advertisements in real time or near real time; classifying DNA sequences; affective computing; performing natural language processing and understanding; object recognition and computer vision; robotic locomotion; playing games; optimization and metaheuristics; detecting network intrusions; medical diagnosis and monitoring; or predicting when an asset, such as a machine, will need maintenance.

Any number and combination of tools can be used to create machine-learning models. Examples of tools for creating and managing machine-learning models can include SAS® Enterprise Miner, SAS® Rapid Predictive Modeler, and SAS® Model Manager, SAS Cloud Analytic Services (CAS)®, SAS Viya® of all which are by SAS Institute Inc. of Cary, N.C.

Machine-learning models can be constructed through an at least partially automated (e.g., with little or no human involvement) process called training. During training, input data can be iteratively supplied to a machine-learning model to enable the machine-learning model to identify patterns related to the input data or to identify relationships between the input data and output data. With training, the machine-learning model can be transformed from an untrained state to a trained state. Input data can be split into one or more training sets and one or more validation sets, and the training process may be repeated multiple times. The splitting may follow a k-fold cross-validation rule, a leave-one-out-rule, a leave-p-out rule, or a holdout rule. An overview of training and using a machine-learning model is described below with respect to the flow chart of FIG. 11.

In block 1104, training data is received. In some examples, the training data is received from a remote database or a local database, constructed from various subsets of data, or input by a user. The training data can be used in its raw form for training a machine-learning model or pre-processed into another form, which can then be used for training the machine-learning model. For example, the raw form of the training data can be smoothed, truncated, aggregated, clustered, or otherwise manipulated into another form, which can then be used for training the machine-learning model.

In block 1106, a machine-learning model is trained using the training data. The machine-learning model can be trained in a supervised, unsupervised, or semi-supervised manner In supervised training, each input in the training data is correlated to a desired output. This desired output may be a scalar, a vector, or a different type of data structure such as text or an image. This may enable the machine-learning model to learn a mapping between the inputs and desired outputs. In unsupervised training, the training data includes inputs, but not desired outputs, so that the machine-learning model has to find structure in the inputs on its own. In semi-supervised training, only some of the inputs in the training data are correlated to desired outputs.

In block 1108, the machine-learning model is evaluated. For example, an evaluation dataset can be obtained, for example, via user input or from a database. The evaluation dataset can include inputs correlated to desired outputs. The inputs can be provided to the machine-learning model and the outputs from the machine-learning model can be compared to the desired outputs. If the outputs from the machine-learning model closely correspond with the desired outputs, the machine-learning model may have a high degree of accuracy. For example, if 90% or more of the outputs from the machine-learning model are the same as the desired outputs in the evaluation dataset, the machine-learning model may have a high degree of accuracy. Otherwise, the machine-learning model may have a low degree of accuracy. The 90% number is an example only. A realistic and desirable accuracy percentage is dependent on the problem and the data.

In some examples, if the machine-learning model has an inadequate degree of accuracy for a particular task, the process can return to block 1106, where the machine-learning model can be further trained using additional training data or otherwise modified to improve accuracy. If the machine-learning model has an adequate degree of accuracy for the particular task, the process can continue to block 1110.

In block 1110, new data is received. In some examples, the new data is received from a remote database or a local database, constructed from various subsets of data, or input by a user. The new data may be unknown to the machine-learning model. For example, the machine-learning model may not have previously processed or analyzed the new data.

In block 1112, the trained machine-learning model is used to analyze the new data and provide a result. For example, the new data can be provided as input to the trained machine-learning model. The trained machine-learning model can analyze the new data and provide a result that includes a classification of the new data into a particular class, a clustering of the new data into a particular group, a prediction based on the new data, or any combination of these.

In block 1114, the result is post-processed. For example, the result can be added to, multiplied with, or otherwise combined with other data as part of a job. As another example, the result can be transformed from a first format, such as a time series format, into another format, such as a count series format. Any number and combination of operations can be performed on the result during post-processing.

A more specific example of a machine-learning model is the neural network 1200 shown in FIG. 12. The neural network 1200 is represented as multiple layers of interconnected neurons, such as neuron 1208, that can exchange data between one another. The layers include an input layer 1202 for receiving input data, a hidden layer 1204, and an output layer 1206 for providing a result. The hidden layer 1204 is referred to as hidden because it may not be directly observable or have its input directly accessible during the normal functioning of the neural network 1200. Although the neural network 1200 is shown as having a specific number of layers and neurons for exemplary purposes, the neural network 1200 can have any number and combination of layers, and each layer can have any number and combination of neurons.

The neurons and connections between the neurons can have numeric weights, which can be tuned during training. For example, training data can be provided to the input layer 1202 of the neural network 1200, and the neural network 1200 can use the training data to tune one or more numeric weights of the neural network 1200. In some examples, the neural network 1200 can be trained using backpropagation. Backpropagation can include determining a gradient of a particular numeric weight based on a difference between an actual output of the neural network 1200 and a desired output of the neural network 1200. Based on the gradient, one or more numeric weights of the neural network 1200 can be updated to reduce the difference, thereby increasing the accuracy of the neural network 1200. This process can be repeated multiple times to train the neural network 1200. For example, this process can be repeated hundreds or thousands of times to train the neural network 1200.

In some examples, the neural network 1200 is a feed-forward neural network. In a feed-forward neural network, every neuron only propagates an output value to a subsequent layer of the neural network 1200. For example, data may only move one direction (forward) from one neuron to the next neuron in a feed-forward neural network.

In other examples, the neural network 1200 is a recurrent neural network. A recurrent neural network can include one or more feedback loops, allowing data to propagate in both forward and backward through the neural network 1200. This can allow for information to persist within the recurrent neural network. For example, a recurrent neural network can determine an output based at least partially on information that the recurrent neural network has seen before, giving the recurrent neural network the ability to use previous input to inform the output.

In some examples, the neural network 1200 operates by receiving a vector of numbers from one layer; transforming the vector of numbers into a new vector of numbers using a matrix of numeric weights, a nonlinearity, or both; and providing the new vector of numbers to a subsequent layer of the neural network 1200. Each subsequent layer of the neural network 1200 can repeat this process until the neural network 1200 outputs a final result at the output layer 1206. For example, the neural network 1200 can receive a vector of numbers as an input at the input layer 1202. The neural network 1200 can multiply the vector of numbers by a matrix of numeric weights to determine a weighted vector. The matrix of numeric weights can be tuned during the training of the neural network 1200. The neural network 1200 can transform the weighted vector using a nonlinearity, such as a sigmoid tangent or the hyperbolic tangent. In some examples, the nonlinearity can include a rectified linear unit, which can be expressed using the equation y=max(x, 0) where y is the output and x is an input value from the weighted vector. The transformed output can be supplied to a subsequent layer, such as the hidden layer 1204, of the neural network 1200. The subsequent layer of the neural network 1200 can receive the transformed output, multiply the transformed output by a matrix of numeric weights and a nonlinearity, and provide the result to yet another layer of the neural network 1200. This process continues until the neural network 1200 outputs a final result at the output layer 1206.

Other examples of the present disclosure may include any number and combination of machine-learning models having any number and combination of characteristics. The machine-learning model(s) can be trained in a supervised, semi-supervised, or unsupervised manner, or any combination of these. The machine-learning model(s) can be implemented using a single computing device or multiple computing devices, such as the communications grid computing system 400 discussed above.

Implementing some examples of the present disclosure at least in part by using machine-learning models can reduce the total number of processing iterations, time, memory, electrical power, or any combination of these consumed by a computing device when analyzing data. For example, a neural network may more readily identify patterns in data than other approaches. This may enable the neural network to analyze the data using fewer processing cycles and less memory than other approaches, while obtaining a similar or greater level of accuracy.

Some machine-learning approaches may be more efficiently and speedily executed and processed with machine-learning specific processors (e.g., not a generic CPU). Such processors may also provide an energy savings when compared to generic CPUs. For example, some of these processors can include a graphical processing unit (GPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator, a neural computing core, a neural computing engine, a neural processing unit, a purpose-built chip architecture for deep learning, and/or some other machine-learning specific processor that implements a machine learning approach or one or more neural networks using semiconductor (e.g., silicon (Si), gallium arsenide (GaAs)) devices. These processors may also be employed in heterogeneous computing architectures with a number of and a variety of different types of cores, engines, nodes, and/or layers to achieve various energy efficiencies, processing speed improvements, data communication speed improvements, and/or data efficiency targets and improvements throughout various parts of the system when compared to a homogeneous computing architecture that employs CPUs for general purpose computing.

FIG. 13A illustrates a block diagram of an example embodiment of a distributed processing system 2000 incorporating one or more source devices 2100, one or more reviewing devices 2800, one or more federated devices 2500 that may form a federated device grid 2005, and/or one or more storage devices 2600 that may form a storage device grid 2006. FIG. 13B illustrates exchanges, through a network 2999, of communications among the devices 2100, 2500, 2600 and/or 2800 associated with the controlled storage of, access to and/or performance of job flows of analyses associated with various objects within one or more federated areas 2566. Referring to both FIGS. 13A and 13B, such communications may include the exchange of job flow definitions 2220, data sets 2330 and/or task routines 2440. However, one or more of the devices 2100, 2500, 2600 and/or 2800 may also exchange, via the network 2999, other data entirely unrelated to any object stored within any federated area 2566. In various embodiments, the network 2999 may be a single network that may extend within a single building or other relatively limited area, a combination of connected networks that may extend a considerable distance, and/or may include the Internet. Thus, the network 2999 may be based on any of a variety (or combination) of communications technologies by which communications may be effected, including without limitation, wired technologies employing electrically and/or optically conductive cabling, and wireless technologies employing infrared, radio frequency (RF) or other forms of wireless transmission.

In various embodiments, each of the one or more source devices 2100 may incorporate one or more of an input device 2110, a display 2180, a processor 2150, a storage 2160 and a network interface 2190 to couple each of the one or more source devices 2100 to the network 2999. The storage 2160 may store a control routine 2140, one or more job flow definitions 2220, one or more DAGs 2270, one or more data sets 2330, one or more task routines 2440 and/or one or more macros 2470. The control routine 2140 may incorporate a sequence of instructions operative on the processor 2150 of each of the one or more source devices 2100 to implement logic to perform various functions. In embodiments in which multiple ones of the source devices 2100 are operated together as a grid of the source devices 2100, the sequence of instructions of the control routine 2140 may be operative on the processor 2150 of each of those source devices 2100 to perform various functions at least partially in parallel with the processors 2150 of others of the source devices 2100.

In some embodiments, one or more of the source devices 2100 may be operated by persons and/or entities (e.g., scholastic entities, governmental entities, business entities, etc.) to generate and/or maintain analysis routines, that when executed by one or more processors, causes an analysis of data to be performed. In such embodiments, execution of the control routine 2140 may cause the processor 2150 to operate the input device 2110 and/or the display 2180 to provide a user interface (UI) by which an operator of the source device 2100 may use the source device 2100 to develop such routines and/or to test their functionality by causing the processor 2150 to execute such routines. Among such routines may be routines intended for storage and/or execution within a federated area 2566. As will be explained in greater detail, a rule imposed in connection with such use of a federated area 2566 may be that routines are required to be stored therein as a combination of a set of objects, including a set of task routines and a job flow definition that specifies aspects of how the set of task routines are executed together. In other words, a requirement for the storage and/or execution of analysis routines within a federated area 2566 may be that the analysis itself be defined as a job flow in which a set of tasks that are performed in a defined order. Thus, an analysis routine generated through operation of one or more of the source devices 2100 may be required to take the form of multiple task routines 2440 and a job flow definition 2220 that specifies the manner in which the multiple task routines 2440 are executed by a processor as a combination to cause the performance of the analysis as a job flow.

As part of providing such a UI, further execution of the control routine 2140 may cause the processor 2150 of a source device 2100 to enable the entry of various commands to perform operations in support of generating such objects. It should be noted that, in different embodiments, some of those commands may trigger the performance of various operations by the processor 2150 of the source device 2100 and/or may trigger the performance of various operations by processing component(s) within one or more of the federated devices 2500. Among those commands may be a command to generate a DAG 2270 of one or more objects, such as a DAG 2270 of one or more task routines 2440, the task(s) performed by one or more task routines 2440, a job flow specified in a job flow definition 2220, or a past performance of a job flow documented by an instance log 2720. A DAG 2270 may provide visual representations of one or more tasks and/or task routines 2440, including visual representations of inputs and/or outputs of each. Where the generation of a DAG 2270 is to be remotely generated, a set of macros 2470 may be generated for each task or task routine 2440 for purposes of being transmitted to another device. Also among those commands may be a command to convert a spreadsheet data structure into a set of objects required for the performance of an analysis that is specified as a set of formulae within the data structure with data that is stored within the data structure. The formulae may be analyzed to derive a set of task routines and a job flow definition that is able to perform the analysis specified in the data structure in a manner that may be better optimized for distributed processing. A DAG 2270 may also be generated to provide a visual guide for the resulting job flow.

In some embodiments, such a UI may take the form of a touch-sensitive device paired with a stylus that serves to enable sketch input by an operator of a source device 2100. As will be familiar to those skilled in the art, this may entail the combining of the display 2180 and the input device 2110 into a single UI device that is able to provide visual feedback to the operator of the successful sketch entry of visual tokens and of text. Through such sketch input, the operator may specify aspects of a GUI that is to be provided during a performance of a job flow to provide an easier and more intuitive user interface by which a user may provide input needed for the performance of that job flow. Following recognition and interpretation of the visual tokens and/or text within the sketch input, a set of executable GUI instructions to implement the GUI may be stored as part of the job flow definition of that job flow.

Still further execution of the control routine 2140 may cause the processor 2150 of a source device 2100 to operate the input device 2110 and/or the display 2180 to provide a UI by which an operator of the source device 2100 may enter commands to access objects stored within one or more federated areas 2566. Among those commands may be a command to the processor 2150 to operate the network interface 2190 to transmit such a combination of multiple task routines 2440 and accompanying job flow definition 2220 via the network 2999 to the one or more federated devices 2500 for storage within a federated area 2566. The processor 2150 may be further caused to operate the display 2180 to present a request received via the network 2999 from the one or more federated devices 2500 (or from one or more other devices that provide access control to federated area(s) 2566) on the display 2180 to the operator of the source device 2100 for the provision of a password and/or other security credential. The processor 2150 may then be caused to transmit the password and/or other security credential provided by the operator (e.g., via the input device 1110) to the one or more federated devices 2500 (or the one or more access control devices) to gain authorization to store the multiple task routines 2440 and accompanying job flow definition 2220 within a federated area 2566. Further, in some of such embodiments, the operator of the source device 2100 may additionally operate the source device 2100 to similarly provide the one or more federated devices 2500 with one or more of the data sets 2330 to also store within a federated area 2566.

The tasks that each of the task routines 2440 may cause a processor to perform may include any of a variety of data analysis tasks, data transformation tasks and/or data normalization tasks. The data analysis tasks may include, and are not limited to, searches and/or statistical analyses that entail derivation of approximations, numerical characterizations, models, evaluations of hypotheses, and/or predictions (e.g., a prediction by Bayesian analysis of actions of a crowd trying to escape a burning building, or of the behavior of bridge components in response to a wind forces). The data transformation tasks may include, and are not limited to, sorting, row and/or column-based mathematical operations, row and/or column-based filtering using one or more data items of a row or column, and/or reordering data items within a data object. The data normalization tasks may include, and are not limited to, normalizing times of day, dates, monetary values (e.g., normalizing to a single unit of currency), character spacing, use of delimiter characters (e.g., normalizing use of periods and commas in numeric values), use of formatting codes, use of big or little Endian encoding, use or lack of use of sign bits, quantities of bits used to represent integers and/or floating point values (e.g., bytes, words, doublewords or quadwords), etc.

In other embodiments, one or more of the source devices 2100 may be operated by persons and/or entities to assemble one or more data sets 2330. In such embodiments, execution of the control routine 2140 by the processor 2150 may cause the processor 2150 to operate the network interface 2190, the input device 2110 and/or one or more other components (not shown) to receive data items and to assemble those received data items into one or more of the data sets 2330. By way of example, one or more of the source devices 2100 may incorporate and/or be in communication with one or more sensors to receive data items associated with the monitoring of natural phenomena (e.g., geological or meteorological events) and/or with the performance of a scientific or other variety of experiment (e.g., a thermal camera or sensors disposed about a particle accelerator). By way of another example, the processor 2150 of one or more of the source devices 2100 may be caused by its execution of the control routine 2140 to operate the network interface 2190 to await transmissions via the network 2999 from one or more other devices providing at least at portion of at least one data set 2330. Upon assembly of one or more data sets 2330, the processor 2150 may be caused by further execution of the control routine 2140 to operate the network interface 2190 to transmit one or more completed data sets 2330 to the one or more federated devices 2500 via the network 2999 for storage within a federated area 2566. The processor 2150 may be further caused by execution of the control routine 2140 to automatically provide one or more security credentials to the one or more federated devices 2500 (or the one or more access control devices) in response to a request received therefrom for security credentials as a prerequisite to granting authorization to store one or more completed data sets 2330 within a federated area 2566.

Each of the one or more data sets 2330 may include any of a wide variety of types of data associated with any of a wide variety of subjects. By way of example, each of the data sets 2330 may include scientific observation data concerning geological and/or meteorological events, or from sensors employed in laboratory experiments in areas such as particle physics. By way of another example, the data set may include indications of activities performed by a random sample of individuals of a population of people in a selected country or municipality, or of a population of a threatened species under study in the wild.

In various embodiments, each of the one or more reviewing devices 2800 may incorporate one or more of an input device 2810, a display 2880, a processor 2850, a storage 2860 and a network interface 2890 to couple each of the one or more reviewing devices 2800 to the network 2999. The storage 2860 may store a control routine 2840, one or more DAGs 2270, one or more data sets 2370, one or more macros 2470, one or more instance logs 2720, and/or one or more result reports 2770. The control routine 2840 may incorporate a sequence of instructions operative on the processor 2850 of each of the one or more reviewing devices 2800 to implement logic to perform various functions. In embodiments in which multiple ones of the reviewing devices 2800 are operated together as a grid of the reviewing devices 2800, the sequence of instructions of the control routine 2840 may be operative on the processor 2850 of each of those reviewing devices 2800 to perform various functions at least partially in parallel with the processors 2850 of others of the reviewing devices 2800.

In some embodiments, one or more of the reviewing devices 2800 may be operated by persons and/or entities (e.g., scholastic entities, governmental entities, business entities, etc.) to request performances of job flows within one or more federated areas 2566 by the one or more federated devices 2500, and to provide the one or more reviewing devices 2800 with result reports 2770 generated by those performances. In such embodiments, execution of the control routine 2840 may cause the processor 2850 to operate the input device 2810 and/or the display 2880 to provide a user interface by which an operator of the reviewing device 2800 may initiate such requests, and/or to use the display 2880 to view one or more of such result reports 2770. Stated differently, one of the reviewing devices 2800 may be operated by a person acting in the role of a consumer of the results of an analysis to request the one or more federated devices 2500 to make use of the objects stored within a federated area 2566 to perform an analysis and provide the results report 2770 generated as a result of that performance.

In other embodiments, one or more of the reviewing devices 2800 may be operated by persons and/or entities to request repeat performances of previously performed job flows within a federated area 2566, and/or to provide the one or more reviewing devices 2800 with instance logs 2720, data sets 2370 that may be exchanged between task routines during the performance of a job flow, and/or the result reports 2770 generated by past performances of job flows within the federated area. In such embodiments, execution of the control routine 2840 may cause the processor 2850 to operate the input device 2810 and/or the display 2880 to provide a UI by which an operator of the reviewing device 2800 may initiate such requests. The processor 2850 may also be caused to operate the display 2880 to enable the operator to view one or more of such instance logs 2720, data sets 2370 (if there are any) and/or result reports 2770 as part of performing a review of past performances of job flows. Stated differently, one of the reviewing devices 2800 may be operated by a person acting in the role of a reviewer of the manner in which an analysis was performed to request the one or more federated devices 2500 to provide various objects associated with the performance of the analysis for use in performing such a review.

By way of example, the operator of one of the reviewing devices 2800 may be associated with a scholastic, governmental or business entity that seeks to review a performance of a job flow of an analysis by another entity. Such a review may be a peer review between two or more entities involved in scientific or other research, and may be focused on confirming assumptions on which algorithms were based and/or the correctness of the performance of those algorithms. Alternatively, such a review may be part of an inspection by a government agency into the quality of the analyses performed by and relied upon by a business in making decisions and/or assessing its own financial soundness, and may seek to confirm whether correct legally required calculations were used. In addition to a review of the result report 2770 that provides the outputs of an analysis, a review of the instance log 2720 generated by the performance of a job flow of an analysis may provide insights into the particular tasks performed and what versions of task routines 2440 were executed to perform those tasks, as well as what data set(s) 2330 were used as inputs. Alternatively or additionally, a review of a data set 2370 that may be generated by the performance of one task of a job flow as a mechanism to convey data that it generates for use by one or more other tasks of the same job flow may provide indications of where an error and/or statistical anomaly may have been introduced in the performance of an analysis.

As part of providing such a UI, further execution of the control routine 2840 may cause the processor 2850 of a reviewing device 2800 to enable the entry of various commands to perform operations in support of performing such analyses of individual objects and/or of past performances of job flows as part of engaging in such a review. It should be noted that, in different embodiments, some of those commands may trigger the performance of various operations by the processor 2850 of the reviewing device 2800 and/or may trigger the performance of various operations by processing component(s) within one or more of the federated devices 2500. In a manner similar to the source devices 2100, among those commands may be a command to generate a DAG 2270 of one or more objects, such as a DAG 2270 of one or more task routines 2440, the task(s) performed by one or more task routines 2440, a job flow specified in a job flow definition 2220, or a past performance of a job flow documented by an instance log 2720. Again, a DAG 2270 may provide visual representations of one or more tasks and/or task routines 2440, including visual representations of inputs and/or outputs of each.

In various embodiments, each of the one or more federated devices 2500 may incorporate one or more of a processor 2550, a storage 2560, one or more neuromorphic devices 2570, and a network interface 2590 to couple each of the one or more federated devices 2500 to the network 2999. The storage 2560 may store a control routine 2540 and/or federated area parameters 2536. In some embodiments, part of the storage 2560 may be allocated for at least a portion of one or more federated areas 2566. In other embodiments, each of the one or more federated devices 2500 may incorporate and/or be coupled to one or more storage devices 2600 within which storage space may be allocated for at least a portion of one or more federated areas 2566. Regardless of where storage space is allocated for one or more federated areas 2566, each of the one or more federated areas 2566 may hold one or more job flow definitions 2220, one or more DAGs 2270, one or more data sets 2330, one or more task routines 2440, one or more macros 2470, one or more instance logs 2720, and/or one or more result reports 2770. In embodiments in which job flows are performed by the one or more federated devices 2500 within a federated area 2566, such a federated area 2566 may at least temporarily hold one or more data sets 2370 during times when one or more of the data sets 2370 are generated and temporarily maintained as part of exchanging data between tasks during the performance of one or more job flows. In embodiments in which DAGs 2270 are generated by the one or more federated devices 2500 within a federated area 2566, such a federated area 2566 may at least temporarily hold one or more macros 2470 during times when one or more of the macros 2470 are generated as part of generating a DAG 2270.

In some embodiments that include the one or more storage devices 2600 in addition to the one or more federated devices 2500, the maintenance of the one or more federated areas 2566 within such separate and distinct storage devices 2600 may be part of an approach of specialization between the federated devices 2500 and the storage devices 2600. More specifically, there may be numerous ones of the federated devices 2500 forming the grid 2005 in which each of the federated devices 2500 may incorporate processing and/or other resources selected to better enable the execution of task routines 2440 as part of performing job flows defined by the job flow definitions 2220. Correspondingly, there may be numerous ones of the storage devices 2600 forming the grid 2006 in which the storage devices 2600 may be organized and interconnected in a manner providing a distributed storage system that may provide increased speed of access to objects within each of the one or more federated areas 2566 through parallelism, and/or may provide fault tolerance of storage. Such distributed storage may also be deemed desirable to better accommodate the storage of particularly large ones of the data sets 2330 and/or 2370, as well as any particularly large data sets that may be incorporated into one or more of the result reports 2770.

The control routine 2540 may incorporate a sequence of instructions operative on the processor 2550 of each of the one or more federated devices 2500 to implement logic to perform various functions. In embodiments in which multiple ones of the federated devices 2500 are operated together as the grid 2005 of the federated devices 2500, the sequence of instructions of the control routine 2540 may be operative on the processor 2550 of each of the federated devices 2500 to perform various functions at least partially in parallel with the processors 2550 of others of the federated devices 2500. As will be described in greater detail, among such functions may be the at least partially parallel performance of job flows defined by one or more of the job flow definitions 2220, which may include the at least partially parallel execution of one or more of the task routines 2440 to perform tasks specified by the one or more job flow definitions 2220. As will also be described in greater detail, also among such functions may be the operation of the one or more neuromorphic devices 2570 to instantiate one or more neural networks to enable neuromorphic processing to be employed in the performance of one or more of such tasks.

Alternatively or additionally, and as will also be described in greater detail, among the functions that the processors 2550 of each of the federated devices 2500 may also be caused to perform by the control routine 2540 are operations in support of the generation of objects under the control of one of the source devices 2100 and/or in support of the review of past performances of job flows 2200 under the control of one or more of the reviewing devices 2800. By way of example, and as previously discussed, an operator of one of the source devices 2100 or of one of the reviewing devices 2800 may provide a command to generate a DAG 2270 of one or more objects. At least where such objects are stored within one or more of the federated areas 2566, such a command may be relayed to one or more of the federated devices 2500 where one or more of the processors 2550 may be caused to perform the operations to directly generate the requested DAG 2270 (which may then be transmitted to the requesting source device 2100 or reviewing device 2800), and/or to generate the macros 2470 needed to generate the DAG 2270 and transmit them to another device (e.g., the requesting source device 2100 or reviewing device 2800) to enable remote generation of the requested DAG 2270. By way of another example, and as also previously discussed, an operator of one of the source devices 2100 may provide a command to generate a set of objects from a spreadsheet data structure to enable the execution of an analysis specified within the data structure as a job flow with multiple task routines 2440 and as defined within a job flow definition 2220. It may be that such a spreadsheet data structure is transmitted to one of the federated devices 2500 to make use of the processing resources of one or more of the federated devices 2500 to perform such generation of objects, as well as of DAG 2270 that may provide a visual guide of various details of the newly generated job flow. By way of another example, the processing resources of one or more of the federated devices 2500, including of one or more neuromorphic devices 2570, may be applied to assist a source device 2100 in recognizing and interpreting sketch input as part of generating GUI instructions for the provision of a GUI during the performance of a job flow.

As depicted, the control routine 2540 may include a federated area component 2546 operable on the processor 2550 to generate at least a portion of each of the one or more federated areas 2566 within either the storage 2560 or one or more of the storage devices 2600. In so doing, the processor 2550 may be caused to retrieve specifications from within the federated area parameters 2536 of various aspects of each of the one or more federated areas 2566. By way of example, the federated area parameters 2536 may specify a minimum and/or maximum amount of storage space to be allocated to each federated area 2566, a manner of organizing the objects stored therein, one or more aspects of the manner in which the storage devices 2600 are operated together to provide storage space for the one or more federated areas 2566, etc.

FIG. 14A illustrates a block diagram of another example embodiment of a distributed processing system 2000 also incorporating one or more source devices 2100, one or more reviewing devices 2800, one or more federated devices 2500 that may form the federated device grid 2005, and/or one or more storage devices 2600 that may form the storage device grid 2006. FIG. 14B illustrates exchanges, through a network 2999, of communications among the devices 2100, 2500, 2600 and/or 2800 associated with the controlled storage of and/or access to various objects within one or more federated areas 2566. The example distributed processing system 2000 of FIGS. 14A-B is substantially similar to the example processing system 2000 of FIGS. 13A-B, but featuring an alternate embodiment of the one or more federated devices 2500 providing an embodiment of the one or more federated areas 2566 within which job flows are not performed. Thus, while task routines 2440 may be executed by the one or more federated devices 2500 within each of the one or more federated areas 2566 in addition to storing objects within each of the one or more federated areas 2566 of FIGS. 13A-B, in FIGS. 14A-B, each of the one or more federated areas 2566 serves as a location in which objects may be stored, but within which no task routines 2440 are executed.

Instead, in the example distributed processing system 2000 of FIGS. 14A-B, the performance of job flows, including the execution of task routines 2440 of job flows, may be performed by the one or more source devices 2100 and/or by the one or more reviewing devices 2800. Thus, as best depicted in FIG. 14B, the one or more source devices 2100 may be operated to interact with the one or more federated devices 2500 to store a wider variety of objects associated with the performance of a job flow within the one or more source devices 2100. More specifically, one of the source devices 2100 may be operated to store, in a federated area 2566, a result report 2770 and/or an instance log 2720 associated with a performance of a job flow defined by a job flow definition 2220, in addition to also being operated to store the job flow definition 2220, along with the associated task routines 2440 and any associated data sets 2330 in a federated area 2566. Additionally, such a one of the source devices 2100 may also store any DAGs 2270 and/or macros 2470 that may be associated with those task routines 2440. As a result, each of the one or more federated areas 2566 is employed to store a record of performances of job flows that occur externally thereof.

Correspondingly, as part of a review of a performance of a job flow, the one or more reviewing devices 2800 may be operated to retrieve the job flow definition 2220 of the job flow, along with the associated task routines 2440 and any associated data sets 2330 from a federated area 2566, in addition to retrieving the corresponding result report 2770 generated by the performance and/or the instance log 2720 detailing aspects of the performance With such a more complete set of the objects associated with the performance retrieved from one or more federated areas 2566, the one or more reviewing devices 2800 may then be operated to independently repeat the performance earlier carried out by the one or more source devices 2100. Following such an independent performance, a new result report 2870 generated by the independent performance may then be compared to the retrieved result report 2770 as part of reviewing the outputs of the earlier performance. Where macros 2470 and/or DAGs 2270 associated with the associated task routines 2440 are available, the one or more reviewing devices 2800 may also be operated to retrieve them for use in analyzing any discrepancies revealed by such an independent performance.

Referring back to all of FIGS. 13A-B and 14A-B, the role of generating objects and the role of reviewing the use of those objects in a past performance have been presented and discussed as involving separate and distinct devices, specifically, the source devices 2100 and the reviewing devices 2800, respectively. However, it should be noted that other embodiments are possible in which the same one or more devices may be employed in both roles such that at least a subset of the one or more source devices 2100 and the one or more reviewing devices 2800 may be one and the same.

FIGS. 15A, 15B and 15C, together, illustrate aspects of the provision of multiple related federated areas 2566 by the one or more federated devices 2500. FIG. 15A depicts aspects of a linear hierarchy of federated areas 2566, FIG. 15B depicts aspects of a hierarchical tree of federated areas 2566, and FIG. 15C depicts aspects of navigating among federated areas 2566 within the hierarchical tree of FIG. 15B. FIGS. 15A-C, together, also illustrate aspects of one or more relationships that may be put in place among federated areas 2566.

Turning to FIG. 15A, a set of federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x may be maintained within the storage(s) 2560 of the one or more federated devices 2500 and/or within the one or more storage devices 2600. As depicted, a hierarchy of degrees of restriction of access may be put in place among the federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x. More specifically, the federated area 2566 q may be a private federated area subject to the greatest degree of restriction in access among the depicted federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x. In contrast, the base federated area 2566 x may a more “public” federated area to the extent that it may be subject to the least restricted degree of access among the depicted federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x. Further, the intervening federated area 2566 u may be subject to an intermediate degree of restriction in access ranging from almost as restrictive as the greater degree of restriction applied to the private federated area 2566 q to almost as unrestrictive as the lesser degree of restriction applied to the base federated area 2566 x. Stated differently, the number of users granted access may be the largest for the base federated area 2566 x, may progressively decrease to an intermediate number for the intervening federated area 2566 u, and may progressively decrease further to a smallest number for the private federated area 2566 q.

There may be any of a variety of scenarios that serve as the basis for selecting the degrees of restriction of access to each of the federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x. By way of example, all three of these federated areas may be under the control of a user of the source device 2100 q where such a user may desire to provide the base federated area 2566 x as a storage location to which a relatively large number of other users may be granted access to make use of objects stored therein by the user of the source device 2100 q and/or at which other users may store objects as a mechanism to provide objects to the user of the source device 2100 q. Such a user of the source device 2100 q may also desire to provide the intervening federated area 2566 u as a storage location to which a smaller number of selected other users may be granted access, where the user of the source device 2100 q desires to exercise tighter control over the distribution of objects stored therein.

As a result of this hierarchical range of restrictions in access, a user of the depicted source device 2100 x may be granted access to the base federated area 2566 x, but not to either of the other federated areas 2566 u or 2566 q. A user of the depicted source device 2100 u may be granted access to the intervening federated area 2566 u. As depicted, such a user of the source device 2100 u may also be granted access to the base federated area 2566 x, for which restrictions in access are less than that of the intervening federated area 2566 u. However, such a user of the source device 2100 u may not be granted access to the private federated area 2566 q. In contrast, a user of the source device 2100 q may be granted access to the private federated area 2566 q. As depicted, such a user of the source device 2100 q may also be granted access to the intervening federated area 2566 u and the base federated area 2566 x, both of which are subject to lesser restrictions in access than the private federated area 2566 q.

As a result of the hierarchy of access restrictions just described, users granted access to the intervening federated area 2566 u are granted access to objects 2220, 2270, 2330, 2370, 2440, 2470, 2720 and/or 2770 that may be stored within either of the intervening federated area 2566 u or the base federated area 2566 x. To enable such users to request the performance of job flows using objects stored in either of these federated areas 2566 x and 2566 u, an inheritance relationship may be put in place between the intervening federated area 2566 u and the base federated area 2566 x in which objects stored within the base federated area 2566 x may be as readily available to be utilized in the performance of a job flow at the request of a user of the intervening federated area 2566 u as objects that are stored within the intervening federated area 2566 u.

Similarly, also as a result of the hierarchy of access restrictions just described, the one or more users granted access to the private federated area 2566 q are granted access to objects 2220, 2270, 2330, 2370, 2440, 2470, 2720 and/or 2770 that may be stored within any of the private federated area 2566 q, the intervening federated area 2566 u or the base federated area 2566 x. Correspondingly, to enable such users to request the performance of job flows using objects stored in any of these federated areas 2566 x and 2566 u, an inheritance relationship may be put in place among the private federated area 2566 q, the intervening federated area 2566 u and the base federated area 2566 x in which objects stored within the base federated area 2566 x or the intervening federated area 2566 u may be as readily available to be utilized in the performance of a job flow at the request of a user of the private federated area 2566 q as objects that are stored within either the intervening federated area 2566 u or the base federated area 2566 x.

Such inheritance relationships among the federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x may be deemed desirable to encourage efficiency in the storage of objects throughout by eliminating the need to store multiple copies of the same objects throughout multiple federated areas 2566 to make them accessible throughout a hierarchy thereof. More precisely, a task routine 2440 stored within the base federated area 2566 x need not be copied into the private federated area 2566 q to become available for use during the performance of a job flow requested by a user of the private federated area 2566 q and defined by a job flow definition 2220 that may be stored within the private federated area 2566 q.

In some embodiments, such inheritance relationships may be accompanied by corresponding priority relationships to provide at least a default resolution to instances in which multiple versions of an object are stored in different ones of the federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x such that one version thereof must be selected for use in the performance of a job flow. By way of example, and as will be explained in greater detail, there may be multiple versions of a task routine 2440 that may be stored within a single federated area 2566 or across multiple federated areas 2566. This situation may arise as a result of improvements being made to such a task routine 2440, and/or for any of a variety of other reasons. Where a priority relationship is in place between at least the base federated area 2566 x and the intervening federated area 2566 u, in addition to an inheritance relationship therebetween, and where there is a different version of a task routine 2440 within each of the federated areas 2566 u and 2566 x that may be used in the performance of a job flow requested by a user of the intervening federated area 2566 u (e.g., through the source device 2100 u), priority may be automatically given by the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 to using a version stored within the intervening federated area 2566 u over using any version that may be stored within the base federated area 2566 x. Stated differently, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to search within the intervening federated area 2566 u, first, for a version of such a task routine 2440, and may use a version found therein if a version is found therein. The processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may then entirely forego searching within the base federated area 2566 x for a version of such a task routine 2440, unless no version of the task routine 2440 is found within the intervening federated area 2566 u.

Similarly, where a priority relationship is in place between among all three of the federated areas 2566 x, 2566 u and 2566 q, in addition to an inheritance relationship thereamong, and where there is a different version of a task routine 2440 within each of the federated areas 2566 q, 2566 u and 2566 x that may be used in the performance of a job flow requested by a user of the private federated area 2566 q (e.g., through the source device 2100 q), priority may be automatically given to using the version stored within the private federated area 2566 q over using any version that may be stored within either the intervening federated area 2566 u or the base federated area 2566 x. However, if no version of such a task routine 2440 is found within the private federated area 2566 q, then the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to search within the intervening federated area 2566 u for a version of such a task routine 2440, and may use a version found therein if a version is found therein. However, if no version of such a task routine 2440 is found within either the private federated area 2566 q or the intervening federated area 2566 u, then the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to search within the base federated area 2566 x for a version of such a task routine 2440, and may use a version found therein if a version is found therein.

In some embodiments, inheritance relationships may be accompanied by corresponding dependency relationships that may be put in place to ensure that all objects required to perform a job flow continue to be available. As will be explained in greater detail, for such purposes as enabling accountability and/or investigating errors in analyses, it may be deemed desirable to impose restrictions against actions that may be taken to delete (or otherwise make inaccessible) objects stored within a federated area 2566 that are needed to perform a job flow that is defined by a job flow definition 2220 within that same federated area 2566. Correspondingly, where an inheritance relationship is put in place among multiple federated areas 2566, it may be deemed desirable to put a corresponding dependency relationship in place in which similar restrictions are imposed against deleting (or otherwise making inaccessible) an object in one federated area 2566 that may be needed for the performance of a job flow defined by a job flow definition 2220 stored within another federated area 2566 that is related by way of an inheritance relationship put in place between the two federated areas 2566. More specifically, where a job flow definition 2220 is stored within the intervening federated area 2566 u that defines a job flow that requires a task routine 2440 stored within the base federated area 2566 x (which is made accessible from within the intervening federated area 2566 u as a result of an inheritance relationship with the base federated area 2566 x), the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may not permit the task routine 2440 stored within the base federated area 2566 x to be deleted. However, in some embodiments, such a restriction against deleting the task routine 2440 stored within the base federated area 2566 x may cease to be imposed if the job flow definition 2220 that defines the job flow that requires that task routine 2440 is deleted, and there are no other job flow definitions 2220 stored elsewhere that also have such a dependency on that task routine 2440.

Similarly, where a job flow definition 2220 is stored within the private federated area 2566 q that defines a job flow that requires a task routine 2440 stored within either the intervening federated area 2566 u or the base federated area 2566 x (with which there may be an inheritance relationship), the processor(s) of the one or more federated devices 2500 may not permit that task routine 2440 to be deleted. However, such a restriction against deleting that task routine 2440 may cease to be imposed if the job flow definition 2220 that defines the job flow that requires that task routine 2440 is deleted, and there are no other job flow definitions 2220 stored elsewhere that also have such a dependency on that task routine 2440.

In concert with the imposition of inheritance and/or priority relationships among a set of federated areas 2566, the exact subset of federated areas 2566 to which a user is granted access may be used as a basis to automatically select a “perspective” from which job flows may be performed by the one or more federated devices 2500 at the request of that user. Stated differently, where a user requests the performance of a job flow, the retrieval of objects required for that performance may be based, at least by default, on what objects are available at the federated area 2566 among the one or more federated areas 2566 to which the user is granted access that has highest degree of access restriction. The determination of what objects are so available may take into account any inheritance and/or priority relationships that may be in place that include such a federated area 2566. Thus, where a user granted access to the private federated area 2566 q requests the performance of a job flow, the processor(s) 2550 of the federated devices 2500 may be caused to select the private federated area 2566 q as the perspective on which determinations concerning which objects are available for use in that performance will be based, since the federated area 2566 q is the federated area 2566 with the most restricted access that the user has been granted access to within the depicted hierarchy of federated areas 2566. With the private federated area 2566 q so selected as the perspective, any inheritance and/or priority relationships that may be in place between the private federated area 2566 q and either of the intervening federated area 2566 u or the base federated area 2566 x may be taken into account in determining whether any objects stored within either are to be deemed available for use in that performance (which may be a necessity if there are any objects that are needed for that performance that are not stored within the private federated area 2566 q).

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, such an automatic selection of perspective may be used to select the storage space in which a performance takes place. Stated differently, as part of maintaining the security that is intended to be provided through the imposition of a hierarchy of degrees of access restriction across multiple federated areas 2566, a performance of a job flow requested by a user may, at least by default, be performed within the federated area that has the highest degree of access restriction among the one or more federated areas to which that user has been granted access. Thus, where a user granted access to the private federated area 2566 q requests a performance of a job flow by the one or more federated devices 2500, such a requested performance of that job flow may automatically be so performed by the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 within the storage space of the private federated area 2566 q. In this way, aspects of such a performance are kept out of reach from other users that have not been granted access to the private federated area 2566 q, including any objects that may be generated as a result of such a performance (e.g., temporary data sets 2370, result reports 2770, etc.). Such a default selection of a federated area 2566 having more restricted access in which to perform a job flow may be based on a presumption that each user will prefer to have the job flow performances that they request being performed within the most secure federated area 2566 to which they have been granted access.

It should be noted that, although a linear hierarchy of just three federated areas is depicted in FIG. 15A for sake of simplicity of depiction and discussion, other embodiments of a linear hierarchy are possible in which there may be multiple intervening federated areas 2566 of progressively changing degree of restriction in access between the base federated area 2566 x and the private federated area 2566 q. Therefore, the depicted quantity of federated areas should not be taken as limiting.

It should also be noted that, although just a single source device 2100 is depicted as having been granted access to each of the depicted federated areas 2566, this has also been done for sake of simplicity of depiction and discussion, and other embodiments are possible in which access to one or more of the depicted federated areas 2566 may be granted to users of more than one device. More specifically, the manner in which restrictions in access to a federated area 2566 may be implemented may be in any of a variety of ways, including and not limited to, restricting access to one or more particular users (e.g., through use of passwords or other security credentials that are associated with particular persons and/or with particular organizations of people), or restricting access to one or more particular devices (e.g., through certificates or security credentials that are stored within one or more particular devices that may be designated for use in gaining access).

Turning to FIG. 15B, a larger set of federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u and 2566 x may be maintained within the storage(s) 2560 of the one or more federated devices 2500 and/or within the one or more storage devices 2600. As depicted, a hierarchy of degrees of restriction of access, like the hierarchy depicted in FIG. 15A, may be put in place among the federated areas 2566 within each of multiple branches and/or sub-branches of a hierarchical tree. More specifically, each of the federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q and 2566 r may each be a private federated area subject to the highest degrees of restriction in access among the depicted federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u and 2566 x. Again, in contrast, the base federated area 2566 x may be a more public federated area to the extent that it may be subject to the least restricted degree of access among the depicted federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u and 2566 x. Further, the intervening federated area 2566 u interposed between the base federated area 2566 x and each of the private federated areas 2566 q and 2566 r may be subject to an intermediate degree of restriction in access ranging from almost as restrictive as the degree of restriction applied to either of the private federated areas 2566 q or 2566 r to almost as unrestrictive as the degree of restriction applied to the base federated area 2566 x. Thus, as in the case of the linear hierarchy depicted in FIG. 15A, the number of users granted access may be the largest for the base federated area 2566 x, may progressively decrease to an intermediate number for the intervening federated area 2566 u, and may progressively decrease further to smaller numbers for each of the private federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q and 2566 r. Indeed, the hierarchical tree of federated areas 2566 of FIG. 15B shares many of the characteristics concerning restrictions of access of the linear hierarchy of federated areas 2566 of FIG. 15A, such that the linear hierarchy of FIG. 15A may be aptly described as a hierarchical tree without branches.

As a result of the depicted hierarchical range of restrictions in access, a user of the depicted source device 2100 x may be granted access to the base federated area 2566 x, but not to any of the other federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r or 2566 u. A user of the depicted source device 2100 u may be granted access to the intervening federated area 2566 u, and may also be granted access to the base federated area 2566 x, for which restrictions in access are less than that of the intervening federated area 2566 u. However, such a user of the source device 2100 u may not be granted access to any of the private federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q or 2566 r. In contrast, a user of the source device 2100 q may be granted access to the private federated area 2566 q, and may also granted access to the intervening federated area 2566 u and the base federated area 2566 x, both of which are subject to lesser restrictions in access than the private federated area 2566 q. A user of the source device 2100 r may similarly be granted access to the private federated area 2566 r, and may similarly also be granted access to the intervening federated area 2566 u and the base federated area 2566 x. Additionally, a user of the source device 2100 m may be granted access to the private federated area 2566 m, and may also be granted access to the base federated area 2566 x. However, none of the users of the source devices 2100 m, 2100 q and 2100 r may be granted access to the others of the private federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q and 2566 r.

As in the case of the linear hierarchy of FIG. 15A, within the depicted branch 2569 xm, one or more of inheritance, priority and/or dependency relationships may be put in place to enable objects stored within the base federated area 2566 x to be accessible from the private federated area 2566 m to the same degree as objects stored within the private federated area 2566 m. Similarly, within the depicted branch 2569 xqr, and within each of the depicted sub-branches 2569 uq and 2569 ur, one or more of inheritance, priority and/or dependency relationships may be put in place to enable objects stored within either of the intervening federated area 2566 u and the base federated area 2566 x to be accessible from the private federated areas 2566 q and 2566 r to the same degree as objects stored within the private federated areas 2566 q and 2566 r, respectively.

Turning to FIG. 15C, the same hierarchical tree of federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u and 2566 x of FIG. 15B is again depicted to illustrate an example of the use of web access techniques to enable a user of a remote device (e.g., one of the source devices 2100 or one of the reviewing devices 2800) to navigate about the hierarchical tree and toward a desired one of the depicted federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u or 2566 x. More specifically, each of the federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u and 2566 x may be assigned a human-readable textual name “mary”, “queen”, “roger”, “uncle” and “x-ray”, respectively, and each of the assigned names may form at least part of a corresponding URL (or other form of federated area identifier) 2568 that is assigned to each of these federated areas. As depicted, the type of federated area identifier 2568 used is a URL, and each URL may be structured to provide an indication of where its corresponding one of these federated areas is located within the hierarchical tree. By way of example, the URL of the base federated area 2566 x, which is located at the root of the tree, may include the name “x-ray” of the base federated area 2566 x, but not include any of the names assigned to any other of these federated areas. In contrast, each of the URLs of each of the private federated areas located at the leaves of the hierarchical tree may be formed, at least partially, as a concatenation of the names of the federated areas that are along the path from each such private federated area at a leaf location to the base federated area 2566 x at the root of the tree. By way of example, the private federated area 2566 r may be assigned a URL that includes the names of the private federated area 2566 r, the intervening federated area 2566 u and the base federated area 2566 x, thereby providing an indication of the entire path from the leaf position of the private federated area 2566 r to the root position of the base federated area 2566 x.

FIGS. 16A, 16B, 16C, 16D and 16E, together, illustrate the manner in which the one or more federated devices 2500 instantiate and maintain federated areas 2566. FIG. 16A illustrates aspects of selectively allowing users of one or more federated areas 2566 to exercise control over various aspects thereof. FIGS. 16B-E illustrates aspects of supporting the addition of new federated areas 2566 and/or new users of federated areas 2566, using examples of combinations of federated areas 2566 based on the example hierarchical tree of federated areas introduced in FIGS. 15B-C.

Turning to FIG. 16A, the control routine 2540 executed by processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may include a portal component 2549 to restrict access to the one or more federated areas 2566 to only authorized users (e.g., authorized persons, entities and/or devices), and may restrict the types of accesses made to only the federated area(s) 2566 for which each user is authorized. However, in alternate embodiments, control of access to the one or more federated areas 2566 may be provided by one or more other devices that may be interposed between the one or more federated devices 2500 and the network 2999, or that may be interposed between the one or more federated devices 2500 and the one or more storage devices 2600 (if present), or that may still otherwise cooperate with the one or more federated devices 2500 to do so.

In executing the portal component 2549, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to operate one or more of the network interfaces 2590 to provide a portal accessible by other devices via the network 2999 (e.g., the source devices 2100 and/or the reviewing devices 2800), and through which access may be granted to the one or more federated areas 2566. In some embodiments in which the one or more federated devices 2500 additionally serve to control access to the one or more federated areas 2566, the portal may be implemented employing the hypertext transfer protocol over secure sockets layer (HTTPS) to provide a website securely accessible from other devices via the network 2999. Such a website may include a webpage generated by the processor 2550 that requires the provision of a password and/or other security credentials to gain access to the one or more federated areas 2566. Such a website may be configured for interaction with other devices via an implementation of representational state transfer (REST or RESTful) application programming interface (API). However, other embodiments are possible in which the processor 2550 may provide a portal accessible via the network 2999 that is implemented in any of a variety of other ways using any of a variety of handshake mechanisms and/or protocols to selectively provide secure access to the one or more federated areas 2566.

Regardless of the exact manner in which a portal may be implemented and/or what protocol(s) may be used, in determining whether to grant or deny access to the one or more federated areas 2566 to another device from which a request for access has been received, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to refer to indications stored within portal data 2539 of users authorized to be granted access. Such indications may include indications of security credentials expected to be provided by such persons, entities and/or machines. In some embodiments, such indications within the portal data 2539 may be organized into accounts that are each associated with an entity with which particular persons and/or devices may be associated. The processor(s) 2550 may be caused to employ the portal data 2539 to evaluate security credentials received in association with a request for access to the at least one of the one or more federated areas 2566, and may operate a network interface 2590 of one of the one or more federated devices 2500 to transmit an indication of grant or denial of access to the at least one requested federated area 2566 depending on whether the processor(s) 2550 determine that access is to be granted.

Beyond selective granting of access to the one or more federated areas 2566 (in embodiments in which the one or more federated devices 2500 control access thereto), the processor(s) 2550 may be further caused by execution of the portal component 2549 to restrict the types of access granted, depending on the identity of the user to which access has been granted. By way of example, the portal data 2539 may indicate that different users are each to be allowed to have different degrees of control over different aspects of one or more federated areas 2566. A user may be granted a relatively high degree of control such that they are able to create and/or remove one or more federated areas 2566, are able to specify which federated areas 2566 may be included in a set of federated areas, and/or are able to specify aspects of relationships among one or more federated areas 2566 within a set of federated areas. Alternatively or additionally, a user may be granted a somewhat more limited degree of control such that they are able to alter the access restrictions applied to one or more federated areas 2566 such that they may be able to control which users have access each of such one or more federated areas 2566. The processor(s) 2550 may be caused to store indications of such changes concerning which users have access to which federated areas 2566 and/or the restrictions applied to such access as part of the portal data 2539, where such indications may take the form of sets of correlations of authorized users to federated areas 2566 and/or correlations of federated areas 2566 to authorized users.

Turning to FIG. 16B, as depicted, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to instantiate and maintain both a private federated area 2566 m and a base federated area 2566 x as part of a set of related federated areas that form a linear hierarchy of degrees of access restriction therebetween. In some embodiments, the depicted pair of federated areas 2566 m and 2566 x may have been caused to be generated by a user of the source device 2100 m having sufficient access permissions (as determined via the portal component 2549) as to be able to create the private federated area 2566 m for private storage of one or more objects that are meant to be accessible by a relatively small number of users, and to create the related public federated area 2566 x for storage of objects meant to be made more widely available through the granting of access to the base federated area 2566 x to a larger number of users. Such access permissions may also include the granted ability to specify what relationships may be put in place between the federated areas 2566 m and 2566 x, including and not limited to, any inheritance, priority and/or dependency relationships therebetween. Such characteristics about each of the federated areas 2566 m and 2566 x may be caused to be stored by the federated area component 2546 as part of the federated area parameters 2536. As depicted, the federated area parameters 2536 may include a database of information concerning each federated area 2566 that is instantiated and/or maintained by the one or more federated devices 2500.

As an alternative to both of the federated areas 2566 m and 2566 x having been created and caused to be related to each other through express requests by a user, in other embodiments, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to automatically create and configure the private federated area 2566 m in response to a request to add a user associated with the source device 2100 m to the users permitted to access the base federated area 2566 x. More specifically, a user of the depicted source device 2100 x that may have access permissions to control various aspects of the base federated area 2566 x may operate the source device 2100 x to transmit a request to the one or more federated devices 2500, via the portal provided thereby on the network 2999, to grant a user associated with the source device 2100 m access to use the base federated area 2566 x. In response, and in addition to so granting the user of the source device 2100 m access to the base federated area 2566 x, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may automatically generate the private federated area 2566 m for private use by the user of the source device 2100 m. Such automatic operations may be triggered by an indication stored in the federated area database within the federated area parameters 2536 that each user that is newly granted access to the base federated area 2566 x is to be so provided with their own private federated area 2566. This may be deemed desirable as an approach to making the base federated area 2566 x easier to use for each such user by providing individual private federate areas 2566 within which objects may be privately stored and/or developed in preparation for subsequent release into the base federated area 2566 x. Such users may be able to store private sets of various tools that each may use in such development efforts.

Turning to FIG. 16C, as depicted, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to instantiate and maintain another private federated area 2566 q to be part of the set of federated areas 2566 m and 2566 x. In so doing, the private federated area 2566 q is added to the set in a manner that converts the linear hierarchy of FIG. 16B into a hierarchical tree with a pair of branches. As with the instantiation of the private federated area 2566 m in FIG. 16B, the instantiation of the private federated area 2566 q in FIG. 16C may also be performed by the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 as an automated response to the addition of a user of the depicted source device 2100 q as authorized to access the base federated area 2566 x. Alternatively, a user with access permissions to control aspects of the base federated area 2566 x may operate the source device 2100 x to transmit a request to the portal generated by the one or more federated devices 2500 to create the private federated area 2566 q, with inheritance, priority and/or dependency relationships with the base federated area 2566 x, and with access that may be limited (at least initially) to the user of the source device 2100 q.

Turning to FIGS. 16D and 16E, as depicted, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to first, instantiate an intervening federated area 2566 u inserted between the private federated area 2566 q and the base federated area 2566 x, and then instantiate another private federated area 2566 r that branches from the newly created intervening federated area 2566 u. In so doing, the second branch that was created in FIG. 16C with the addition of the private federated area 2566 q is expanded into a larger branch that includes both of the private federated areas 2566 q and 2566 r in separate sub-branches.

In various embodiments, the insertion of the intervening federated area 2566 u may be initiated in a request transmitted to the portal from either the user of the source device 2100 q or the user of the source device 2100 x, depending on which user has sufficient access permissions to be permitted to make such a change in the relationship between the private federated area 2566 q and the base federated area 2566 x, including the instantiation and insertion of the intervening federated area 2566 u therebetween. In some embodiments, it may be necessary for such a request made by one of such users to be approved by the other before the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may proceed to act upon it.

Such a series of additions to a hierarchical tree may be prompted by any of a variety of circumstances, including and not limited to, a desire to create an isolated group of private federated areas that are all within a single isolated branch that includes an intervening federated area by which users associated with each of the private federated areas within such a group may be able to share objects without those objects being more widely shared outside the group as by being stored within the base federated area 2566 x. Such a group of users may include a group of collaborating developers of task routines 2440, data sets 2330 and/or job flow definitions 2220.

FIGS. 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, 17E and 17F, together, illustrate the manner in which an example job flow 2200 fgh may be configured by a job flow definition 2220 fgh. FIGS. 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, 17E and 17F, together, also illustrate the manner in which an example performance 2700 afg 2 h of the example job flow 2200 fgh may be documented by an example instance log 2720 afg 2 h. FIG. 17E additionally illustrates the manner in which the job flow definition 2220 fgh may be generated as and/or from a DAG 2270 fgh. FIG. 17F additionally illustrates the manner in which the job flow 2200 fgh that employs non-neuromorphic processing to perform a function may be associated with another job flow 2200 jk that employs neuromorphic processing to perform the same function and that was derived from the job flow 2200 fgh. For sake of ease of discussion and understanding, the same example job flow 2200 fgh and example performance 2700 afg 2 h of the example job flow 2200 fgh are depicted throughout all of FIGS. 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, 17E and 17F. Also, the example job flow 2200 fgh and example performance 2700 afg 2 h thereof are deliberately relatively simple examples presented herein for purposes of illustration, and should not be taken as limiting what is described and claimed herein to such relatively simple embodiments.

As depicted, the example job flow 2200 fgh specifies three tasks that are to be performed in a relatively simple three-step linear order through a single execution of a single task routine 2440 for each task, with none of those three tasks entailing the use of neuromorphic processing. Also, the example job flow 2200 fgh requires a single data set as an input data object to the first task in the linear order, may generate and exchange a single data set between two of the tasks, and generates a result report as an output data object of the last task in the linear order. As also depicted, in the example performance 2700 afg 2 h of the example job flow 2200 fgh, task routines 2440 f, 2440 g 2 and 2440 h are the three task routines selected to be executed to perform the three tasks. Also, a data set 2330 a is selected to serve as the input data object, a data set 2370 fg may be generated and exchanged between performed tasks as a mechanism to exchange data therebetween, and a result report 2770 afg 2 h is the output data object to be generated as an output of the performance 2700 afg 2 h. Again, it should be noted that other embodiments of a job flow are possible in which there may be many more tasks to be performed, many more data objects that serve as inputs and/or many more data objects generated as outputs. It should also be noted that other embodiments of a job flow are possible in which there is a much more complex order of the performance of tasks that may include parallel and/or conditional branches that may converge and/or diverge.

Turning to FIGS. 17A and 17B, the job flow definition 2220 fgh for the example job flow 2200 fgh may include a flow definition 2222 that specifies the three tasks to be performed, the order in which they are to be performed, and which of the three tasks is to accept a data object as an input and/or generate a data object as an output. In specifying the three tasks to be performed, the flow definition 2222 may use flow task identifiers 2241, such as the depicted flow task identifiers 2241 f, 2241 g and 2241 h that uniquely identify each of the three tasks. As depicted, there may be a single task routine 2440 f that is able to perform the task specified with the flow task identifier 2241 f, and therefore, the single task routine 2440 f may be the one task routine that is assigned the flow task identifier 2241 f to provide an indication that it is able to perform the task. Also, there may be three task routines 2440 g 1, 2440 g 2 and 2440 g 3 that are each able to perform the task specified with the flow task identifier 2241 g, and therefore, each may be assigned the same flow task identifier 2241 g. Further, there may be a single task routine 2440 h that is able to perform the task specified with the flow task identifier 2241 h, resulting in the assignment of the flow task identifier 2241 h to the single task routine 2440 h.

As has been discussed, the job flow definition 2220 fgh specifies the tasks to be performed in a job flow, but does not specify any particular task routine 2440 to be selected for execution to perform any particular one of those tasks during any particular performance of the job flow. Where there are multiple task routines 2440 that are capable of performing a particular task, a single one of those multiple task routines 2440 is selected for execution to do so, and the selection that is made may depend on the nature of the request received to perform a job flow. More specifically, the selection of a particular task routine 2440 for execution to perform each particular task may be based on which task routine 2440 is the newest version to perform each task, and/or may be based on which task routine 2440 was used in a previous performance of each task in a specified previous performance of a job flow. As will be explained in detail, the selection criteria that is used to select a task routine 2440 for each task may depend on whether an entirely new performance of a job flow is requested or a repetition of an earlier performance of a job flow is requested. As depicted, in the example performance 2700 afg 2 h of the example job flow 2200 fgh, the task routine 2440 g 2 is selected from among the task routines 2440 g 1, 2440 g 2 and 2440 g 3 for execution to perform the task identified with the flow task identifier 2241 g.

Alternatively or additionally, and as previously explained in connection with FIGS. 15A-B, in situations in which objects needed for the performance of a job flow are distributed among multiple federated areas that are related by inheritance and/or priority relationships, the selection of a particular task routine 2440 to perform a task from among multiple task routines 2440 that may each perform that same task may be dependent upon which federated area 2566 each of such multiple task routines 2440 are stored within. By way of example, FIG. 17C depicts an example situation in which objects needed to perform the job flow 2200 fgh are distributed among the federated areas 2566 m, 2566 u and 2566 x in the example hierarchical tree of federated areas introduced in FIGS. 15B-C. More specifically, in this example, the data set 2330 a and the task routine 2440 g 2 are stored within the private federated area 2566 m; the task routine 2440 g 3 is stored within the intervening federated area 2566 u; and the data set 2330 b and the task routines 2440 f, 2440 g 1 and 2440 h are stored within the base federated area 2566 x. As depicted, where the request to perform the job flow 2200 fgh is received from a user granted access to the private federated area 2566 m, as well as to the base federated area 2566 x, but not granted access to any of the federated areas 2566 q, 2566 r or 2566 u, the search for objects to use in the requested performance may be limited to those stored within the private federated area 2566 m and the base federated area 2566 x. Stated differently, the perspective that may be automatically selected for use in determining which federated areas are searched for objects may be that of the private federated area 2566 m, since the private federated area 2566 m is the one federated area to which the user in this example has been granted access to that is subject to the most restricted degree of access.

As a result, the task routine 2440 g 3 stored within the intervening federated area 2566 u is entirely unavailable for use in the requested performance as a result of the user having no grant of access to the intervening federated area 2566 u, and this then becomes the reason why the task routine 2440 g 3 is not selected. In contrast, as a result of an inheritance relationship between the private federated area 2566 m and the base federated area 2566 x, the data set 2330 b and each of the task routines 2440 f, 2440 g 1 and 2440 h stored in the based federated area 2566 x may each be as readily available for being used in the requested performance of the job flow 2200 fgh as the data set 2330 a and the task routine 2440 g 2 stored in the private federated area 2566 m. Therefore, the task routines 2440 f and 2440 h may be selected as a result of being the only task routines available within either federated area 2566 m or 2566 x that perform their respective tasks. However, although both of the data sets 2330 a and 2330 b may be equally available through that same inheritance relationship, a priority relationship also in place between the federated areas 2566 m and 2566 x may result in the data set 2330 a being selected as the input data set, since the data set 2330 a is stored within the private federated area 2566 m, which is searched first for the objects needed for the requested performance, while the data set 2330 b is stored within the base federated area 2566 x, which is searched after the search of the private federated area 2566 m. The same combination of inheritance and priority relationships in place between the federated areas 2566 m and 2566 x may also result in the task routine 2440 g 2 stored within the private federated area 2566 m being selected, instead of the task routine 2440 g 1 stored within the base federated area 2566 x.

Turning to FIGS. 17A and 17D, the job flow definition 2220 fgh may include interface definitions 2224 that specify aspects of task interfaces 2444 employed in communications among task the routines 2440 that are selected for execution to perform the tasks of the example job flow 2200 fgh (e.g., the task routines 2440 f, 2440 g 2 and 2440 h). Such aspects may include quantity, type, bit widths, protocols, etc., of parameters passed from one task routine 2440 to another as part of communications among task routines 2440 during their execution. As also depicted, the interface definitions 2224 may specify aspects of data interfaces 2443 between task routines 2440 and any data objects that may be employed as an input to a performance (e.g., the data set 2330 a) and/or that may be generated as an output of a performance (e.g., the result report 2770 afg 2 h) of the example job flow 2200 fgh, such as the data example performance 2700 afg 2 h. The interface definitions 2224 may also specify aspects of data interfaces 2443 employed by one task routine 2440 to generate a data object to convey a relatively large quantity of data to another task routine 2440 (e.g., the data set 2370 fg depicted with dotted lines, and depicted as generated by task routine 2440 f for use as an input to task routine 2440 g 2), and may specify aspects of the data interface 2443 employed by the other task routine 2440 to retrieve data from that same data object. Since many of the specified aspects of the data interfaces 2443 may necessarily be closely associated with the manner in which data items are organized and made accessible within data objects, the interface definitions 2224 may include organization definitions 2223 that specify such organizational and access aspects of the data objects. Thus, as depicted in FIG. 17D, where each of the data sets 2330 a and 2370 fg (if any are present), and the result report 2770 afg 2 h include a two-dimensional array, the organization definitions 2223 may specify various aspects of the data items 2339 (e.g., data type, bit width, etc.), the rows 2333 and/or the columns 2334 for each these data objects.

As previously discussed, the job flow definition 2220 fgh specifies tasks to be performed and not the particular task routines 2440 to be selected for execution to perform those tasks, which provides the flexibility to select the particular task routines 2440 for each task at the time a performance takes place. Similarly, the job flow definition 2220 fgh also does not specify particular data objects to be used, which provides the flexibility to select the particular data objects with which the job flow is to be used at the time a performance takes place. However, the interface definitions 2224 do specify aspects of the interfaces among the task routines 2440, and between the task routines 2440 and data objects. The specification of aspects of the interfaces 2443 and/or 2444 may be deemed desirable to ensure continuing interoperability among task routines 2440, as well as between task routines 2440 and data objects, in each new performance of a job flow, even as new versions of one or more of the task routines 2440 and/or new data objects are created for use in later performances.

In some embodiments, new versions of task routines 2440 may be required to implement the interfaces 2443 and/or 2444 in a manner that exactly matches the specifications of those interfaces 2443 and/or 2444 within a job flow definition 2220 fgh. However, in other embodiments, a limited degree of variation in the implementation of the interfaces 2443 and/or 2444 by newer versions of task routines 2440 may be permitted as long as “backward compatibility” is maintained in retrieving input data objects or generating output data objects through data interfaces 2443, and/or in communications with other task routines through task interfaces 2444. As will be explained in greater detail, the one or more federated devices 2500 may employ the job flow definitions 2220 stored within one or more federated areas 2566 to confirm that new versions of task routines 2440 correctly implement task interfaces 2444 and/or data interfaces 2443. By way of example, in some embodiments, it may be deemed permissible for an interface 2443 or 2444 that receives information to be altered in a new version of a task routine 2440 to accept additional information from a newer data object or a newer version of another task routine 2440 if that additional information is provided, but to not require the provision of that additional information. Alternatively or additionally, by way of example, it may be deemed permissible for an interface 2443 or 2444 that outputs information to be altered in a new version of task routine 2440 to output additional information as an additional data object generated as an output, or to output additional information to a newer version of another task routine 2440 in a manner that permits that additional information to be ignored by an older version of that other task routine 2440.

Turning to FIG. 17E, the interface definitions 2224 within the job flow definition 2220 fgh may, in some embodiments, be derived as part of the generation of a DAG 2270 fgh from comments and/or other portions of the programming code of the task routines 2440 f, 2440 g 2 and 2440 h. More specifically, it may be that the job flow definition 2220 fgh is at least partially generated from a parsing of comments and/or other portions of programming code descriptive of the inputs and/or outputs of one or more task routines 2440 that perform the functions of the job flow 2200 fgh that the job flow definition 2220 fgh is to define. In some embodiments, and as depicted, information concerning inputs to and/or outputs from each of the task routines 2440 f, 2440 g 2 and 2440 h may be stored, at least temporarily, as macros 2470 f, 2470 g 2 and 2470 h, respectively, although it should be noted that other forms of intermediate data structure may be used in providing intermediate storage of information concerning inputs and/or outputs. With all of such data structures having been generated, the information within each that concerns inputs and/or outputs may then be used to generate the DAG 2270 fgh to include the interface definitions 2224. And it may be that, from the interface definitions 2224, at least a portion of the flow definition 2222 is able to be derived.

Returning to FIGS. 17A and 17B, an example instance log 2720 afg 2 h that is generated as result a of the example performance 2700 afg 2 h of the example job flow 2200 fgh is depicted. Although the job flow definition 2220 fgh does not specify particular data objects or task routines 2440 to be used in performances of the example job flow 2200 fgh, the example instance log 2720 afg 2 h does include such details, as well as others, concerning the example performance 2700 afg 2 h. Thus, the example instance log 2720 afg 2 h includes the job flow identifier 2221 fgh for the example job flow definition 2220 fgh; the task routine identifiers 2441 f, 2441 g 2 and 2441 h for the particular task routines 2440 f, 2440 g 2 and 2440 h, respectively, that were executed in the example performance 2700 afg 2 h; the data object identifier 2331 a for the data set 2330 a used as an input data object; and the result report identifier 2771 afg 2 h for the result report 2770 afg 2 h generated during the example performance 2700 afg 2 h. As has been discussed, the example instance log 2720 afg 2 h is intended to serve as a record of sufficient detail concerning the example performance 2700 afg 2 h as to enable all of the objects associated with the example performance 2700 afg 2 h to be later identified, retrieved and used to repeat the example performance 2700 afg 2 h. In contrast, the job flow definition 2220 fgh is intended to remain relatively open-ended for use with a variety of data objects and/or with a set of task routines 2440 that may change over time as improvements are made to the task routines 2440.

Turning for FIG. 17F, a new job flow that employs neuromorphic processing (i.e., uses a neural network to implement a function) may be derived from an existing job flow that does not employ neuromorphic processing (i.e., does not use a neural network, and instead, uses the execution of a series of instructions to perform the function). This may be done as an approach to creating a new job flow that is able to be performed much more quickly (e.g., by multiple orders of magnitude) than an existing job flow by using a neural network in the new job flow to perform one or more tasks much more quickly than may be possible through the non-neuromorphic processing employed in the existing job flow. However, as those skilled in the art will readily recognize, such a neural network may need to be trained, and neuromorphic processing usually requires the acceptance of some degree of inaccuracy that is usually not present in non-neuromorphic instruction-based processing in which each step in the performance of a function is explicitly set forth with executable instructions.

Such training of a neural network of such a new job flow may entail the use of a training data set that may be assembled from data inputs and data outputs of one or more performances of an existing job flow. Such a training data set may then be used, through backpropagation and/or other neuromorphic training techniques, to train the neural network. Further, following such training, the degree of accuracy of the neural network in one or more performances of the new job flow may be tested by comparing data outputs of the existing and new job flows that are derived from identical data inputs provided to each. Presuming that the new job flow incorporating use of the neural network is deemed to be accurate enough to be put to use, there may still, at some later time, be an occasion where the functionality and/or accuracy of the new job flow and/or the neural network may be deemed to be in need of an evaluation. On such an occasion, as an aid to ensuring accountability for the development of the new job flow and/or the neural network, it may be deemed desirable to provide an indication of what earlier job flow(s) and/or data object(s) were employed in training and/or in testing the new job flow and/or the neural network.

FIG. 17F provides a view of aspects of a example job flow 2200 jk that employs neuromorphic processing (i.e., employs a neural network), an example job flow definition 2220 jk that defines the job flow 2200 jk, an example performance 2700 ajk of the job flow 2200 jk, and a corresponding example instance log 2720 ajk that documents the performance 2700 ajk. This view is similar to the view provided by FIG. 17A of aspects of the earlier discussed example job flow 2200 fgh that does not employ neuromorphic processing (i.e., does not employ a neural network), the job flow definition 2220 fgh that defines the job flow 2200 fgh, the example performance 2700 afg 2 h of the job flow 2200 fgh, and the example instance log 2720 afg 2 h that documents the performance 2700 afg 2 h. As depicted in FIG. 17F, the job flow definition 2220 jk may be defined to include a first task able to be performed by a task routine 2440 j that entails the use of neural configuration data 2371 j, and a second task able to be performed by a task routine 2440 k. As will be explained in greater detail, the task performable by the task routine 2440 j may be that of using the neural network configuration data 2371 j to instantiate a neural network (not specifically shown), and the task performable by the task routine 2440 k may be that of using that neural network to cause the job flow 2200 jk to perform the same function as the job flow 2200 fgh.

The neural network configuration data 2371 j may define hyperparameters and/or trained parameters that define the neural network employed in the job flow 2200 jk after it has been trained. In some embodiments, the neural network configuration data 2371 j may be deemed and/or handled for purposes of storage among one or more federated areas 2566 as an integral part of the depicted example task routine 2440 j. In such embodiments, the executable code of the task routine 2440 j may include some form of link (e.g., a pointer, identifier, etc.) that refers to the neural network configuration data 2371 j as part of a mechanism to cause the retrieval and/or use of the neural network configuration data 2371 j alongside the task routine 2440 j. Alternatively, in such embodiments, the task routine 2440 j may wholly integrate the neural network configuration data 2371 j as a form of directly embedded data structure.

However, in other embodiments, the neural network configuration data 2371 j may be incorporated into and/or be otherwise treated as a data set 2370 j that may be stored among multiple data sets 2330 and/or 2370 within one or more federated areas 2566, including being subject to at least a subset of the same rules controlling access thereto as are applied to any other data set 2330 and/or 2370. In such other embodiments, the same techniques normally employed in selecting and/or specifying a data set 2330 or 2370 as an input to a task routine 2440 in a performance of a job flow 2200 may be used to specify the neural network configuration data 2371 j as the data set 2370 j serving as an input to the task routine 2440 j. In this way, and as will be explained in greater detail, the neural network defined by the configuration data 2371 j may be given at least some degree of protection against deletion, may be made available for use in multiple different job flow flows (including other job flows that may perform further training of that neural network that yield improved versions that may also be so stored), and/or may be documented within one or more instance logs as having been employed in one or more corresponding performances of job flows 2200.

As also depicted in FIG. 17F, the job flow definition 2220 jk of the example job flow 2200 jk may include the job flow identifier 2221 fgh as a form of link to the job flow definition 2220 fgh that defines the example job flow 2200 fgh. Such a link to the job flow definition 2220 fgh may be provided in the job flow definition 2220 jk in a situation where one or more performances (i.e., the example performance 2700 afg 2 h) of the job flow 2200 fgh were used in training and/or in testing the neural network of the job flow 2200 jk. Alternatively or additionally, the instance log 2720 ajk that documents aspects of the example performance 2700 afk of the example job flow 2200 jk may include the instance log identifier 2721 afg 2 h as a link to the instance log 2720 afg 2 h that documents the example performance 2700 afg 2 h. Such a link to the instance log 2720 afg 2 h may be provided in the instance log 2720 ajk in a situation where the performance 2700 afg 2 h was used in training and/or in testing the neural network of the job flow 2200 jk. Through the provision of such links, the fact that the job flow 2200 fgh and/or the specific performance 2700 afg 2 h was used in training and/or in testing the neural network of the job flow 2200 jk may be readily revealed, if at a later date, the job flow definition 2220 jk and/or the instance log 2720 ajk are retrieved and analyzed as part of a later evaluation of the job flow 2200 jk. In this way, some degree of accountability for how the neural network of the job flow 2200 jk was trained and/or tested may be ensured should such training and/or testing need to be scrutinized.

Returning to both FIGS. 17A and 17F, as depicted, either or both of the example job flow definitions 2220 fgh or 2220 jk may additionally include GUI instructions 2229 fgh or 2229 jk, respectively. As previously discussed, such GUI instructions 2229 incorporated into a job flow definition 2220 may provide instructions for execution by a processor to provide a job flow GUI during a performance of the corresponding job flow 2200. As earlier discussed, a job flow definition 2220 may include flow task identifiers 2241 that identify the tasks to be performed, but not particular task routines 2440 to perform those tasks, as a mechanism to enable the most current versions of task routines 2440 to be used to perform the tasks. As also earlier discussed, a job flow definition 2220 may also include interface definitions 2224 that specify characteristics of the inputs and/or outputs for each task to be performed, but may not specify any particular data object 2330 as an approach to allowing data objects 2330 that are to be used as inputs to a performance to be specified at the time a performance is to begin. Through execution of GUI instructions 2229, a job flow GUI may be provided that guides a user through an opportunity to specify one or more of the data objects 2330 that are to be used as inputs. Alternatively or additionally, a job flow GUI may be provided to afford a user an opportunity to specify the use of one or more particular task routines 2440 as part of an effort to analyze the accuracy and/or other aspects of a performance of a job flow 2200. By way of example, the GUI instructions 2229 jk, when executed, may provide a user an opportunity to specify the data set 2370 j or another data set as the one that should be used to provide the neural network configuration data 2371 to be used to instantiate the neural network to be used in a performance of the job flow 2200 jk.

FIGS. 18A, 18B, 18C, 18D and 18E, together, illustrate the manner in which the one or more federated devices 2500 selectively store and organize objects within one or more federated areas 2566. FIG. 18A illustrates aspects of selective storage of objects received from one or more of the source devices 2100 within the one or more federated areas 2566, and FIGS. 18B-E illustrates aspects of organization objects within the one or more federated areas 2566 in preparation for retrieval and use in performances of job flows.

Turning to FIG. 18A, one of the source devices 2100 may be operated to transmit a request to one of the federated devices 2500 to store objects associated with a job flow within a federated area 2566. Again, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by the portal component 2549 to restrict access to the one or more federated areas 2566 to only authorized users (e.g., authorized persons, entities and/or devices), and may restrict the types of accesses made to only those for which each user is authorized. The control routine 2540 may also include an admission component 2542 to restrict the objects that may be accepted for storage within a federated area 2566 to those that comply with one or more requirements.

Again, in executing the portal component 2549, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to operate one or more of the network interfaces 2590 to provide a portal accessible by other devices via the network 2999, and through which access may be granted by the processor(s) 2550 to the one or more federated areas 2566. Again, any of a variety of network and/or other protocols may be used. Again, in determining whether to grant or deny access to one or more federated areas 2566 to another device from which a request for access has been received, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to refer to indications stored within portal data 2539 of users that are authorized to be granted access.

Beyond selective granting of access to the one or more federated areas 2566 (in embodiments in which the one or more federated devices 2500 control access thereto), the processor(s) 2550 may be further caused by execution of the portal component 2549 to restrict the types of access granted, depending on the identity of the user to which access has been granted. By way of example, the portal data 2539 may indicate that different persons and/or different devices associated with a particular scholastic, governmental or business entity are each to be allowed different degrees and/or different types of access. One such person or device may be granted access to retrieve objects from within a federated area 2566, but may not be granted access to alter or delete objects, while another particular person operating a particular device may be granted a greater degree of access that allows such actions. In embodiments in which there is a per-object control of access, the one or more federated devices 2500 (or the one or more other devices that separately control access) may cooperate with the one or more storage devices 2600 (if present) to effect such per-object access control.

It should be noted that the granting of access to a federated area 2566 to store one or more objects may lead to a parallel transfer of portions of one or more of the objects via the network 2999 from and/or to a grid of devices. This may be deemed desirable for the transfer of larger objects, such as data objects (e.g., a data set 2330) that may be quite large in size. More precisely, in embodiments in which the source device 2100 that transmitted the request for access to store objects is operated as part of a grid of the source devices 2100, the granting of access to store objects in a federated area 2566 may result in multiple ones of source devices 2100 transmitting one or more of the objects to one or more of the federated devices 2500 as multiple portions in at least partially parallel transfers. Correspondingly, in embodiments in which the federated device 2500 that received the request is operated as part of a federated device grid 2005, multiple ones of the federated devices 2500 may receive one or more of the transmitted objects as portions and at least partially in parallel.

In executing the admission component 2542, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to impose various restrictions on what objects may be stored within a federated area 2566, presuming that the processor(s) 2550 have been caused by the portal component 2549 to grant access in response to the received request to store objects. Some of such restrictions may be based on dependencies between objects and may advantageously automate the prevention of situations in which one object stored in a federated area 2566 is rendered nonfunctional as a result of another object having not been stored within the same federated area 2566 or within a federated area 2566 that is related through an inheritance relationship such that it is unavailable.

By way of example, and as previously explained, such objects as job flow definitions 2220 include references to tasks to be performed. In some embodiments, it may be deemed desirable to prevent a situation in which there is a job flow definition 2220 stored within a federated area 2566 that describes a job flow that cannot be performed as a result of there being no task routines 2440 stored within the same federated area 2566 and/or within a related federated area 2566 that are able to perform one or more of the tasks specified in the job flow definition 2220. Thus, where a request is received to store a job flow definition 2220, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the admission component 2542 to first determine whether there is at least one task routine 2440 stored within the same federated area 2566 and/or within a related federated area 2566 to perform each task specified in the job flow definition. If there isn't, then the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the admission component 2542 to disallow storage of that job flow definition 2220 within that federated area 2566, at least until such missing task routine(s) 2440 have been stored therein and/or within a related federated area 2566 from which they would be accessible through an inheritance relationship. In so doing, and as an approach to improving ease of use, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to transmit an indication of the reason for the refusal to inform an operator of the source device 2100 of what can be done to remedy the situation.

Also by way of example, and as previously explained, such objects as instance logs 2720 include references to such other objects as a job flow definition, task routines executed to perform tasks, and data objects employed as inputs and/or generated as outputs. In some embodiments, it may also be deemed desirable to avoid a situation in which there is an instance log 2720 stored within a federated area 2566 that describes a performance of a job flow that cannot be repeated as a result of the job flow definition 2220, one of the task routines 2440, or one of the data objects referred to in the instance log 2720 not being stored within the same federated area 2566 and/or within a related federated area 2566 from which they would also be accessible. Such a situation may entirely prevent a review of a performance of a job flow. Thus, where a request is received to store an instance log 2720, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by the admission component 2542 to first determine whether all of the objects referred to in the instance log 2720 are stored within the same federated area 2566 and/or a related federated area 2566 in which they would also be accessible, thereby enabling a repeat performance using all of the objects referred to in the instance log 2720. If there isn't then the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the admission component 2542 to disallow storage of that instance log 2720 within that federated area 2566, at least until such missing object(s) have been stored therein and/or within a related federated area 2566. Again, as an approach to improving ease of use, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to transmit an indication of the reason for the refusal to inform an operator of the source device 2100 of what can be done to remedy the situation, including identifying the missing objects.

Additionally by way of example, and as previously explained, such objects as job flow definitions 2220 may specify various aspects of interfaces among task routines, and/or between task routines and data objects. In some embodiments, it may be deemed desirable to prevent a situation in which the specification in a job flow definition 2220 of an interface for any task routine that may be selected to perform a specific task does not match the manner in which that interface is implemented in a task routine 2440 that may be selected for execution to perform that task. Thus, where a request is received to store a combination of objects that includes both a job flow definition 2220 and one or more associated task routines 2440, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to compare the specifications of interfaces within the job flow definition 2220 to the implementations of those interfaces within the associated task routines 2440 to determine whether they sufficiently match. Alternatively or additionally, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to perform such comparisons between the job flow definition 2220 that is requested to be stored and one or more task routines 2440 already stored within one or more federated areas 2566, and/or to perform such comparisons between each of the task routines 2440 that are requested to be stored and one or more job flow definitions 2220 already stored within one or more federated areas 2566. If the processor(s) 2550 determine that there is an insufficient match, then the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to disallow storage of the job flow definition 2220 and/or of the one or more associated task routines 2440. In so doing, and as an approach to improving ease of use, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to transmit an indication of the reason for the refusal to inform an operator of the source device 2100 of what can be done to remedy the situation, including providing details of the insufficiency of the match.

As previously discussed, macros 2470 and DAGs 2270 may be generated from information concerning the inputs and/or outputs of one or more task routines 2440 such that, like a job flow definition 2200 and/or an instance log 2720, each macro 2470 and each DAG 2270 is associated with one or more task routines 2440. As a result of such associations, it may be deemed desirable to ensure that further analysis of the information within each macro 2470 and/or DAG 2270 is enabled by requiring that the one or more task routines 2440 from which each is derived be available within a federated area 2566 to be accessed. More specifically, in executing the admission component 2542, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to impose restrictions on the storage of macros 2470 and/or DAGs 2270 that may be similar to those just discussed for the storage of job flow definitions 2200 and/or instance logs 2720. Thus, in response to a request to store one or more macros 2470 and/or one or more DAGs 2270, the processor(s) 2550 may first be caused to determine whether the task routine(s) 2440 on which the information concerning inputs and/or outputs within each macro 2470 and/or within each DAG 2270 may be based is stored within a federated area 2566 or is provided for storage along with each 2470 and/or each DAG 2270 for storage. Storage of a macro 2470 or of a DAG 2270 may be refused if such associated task routine(s) 2440 are not already so stored and are also not provided along with the macro 2470 or DAG 2270 that is requested to be stored.

Turning to FIG. 18B, as depicted, the control routine 2540 executed by processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may include an identifier component 2541 to assign identifiers to objects within the one or more federated areas 2566. As previously discussed, each instance log 2720 may refer to objects associated with a performance of a job flow (e.g., a job flow definition 2220, task routines 2440, and/or data objects used as inputs and/or generated as outputs, such as the data sets 2330 and/or 2370, and/or a result report 2770) by identifiers assigned to each. Also, as will shortly be explained, the assigned identifiers may be employed as part of an indexing system in one or more data structures and/or databases to more efficiently retrieve such objects. In some embodiments, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by the identifier component 2541 to assign identifiers to objects as they area received via the network 2999 from other devices, such as the one or more source devices 2100. In other embodiments, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the identifier component 2541 to assign identifiers to objects generated as a result of a performance of a job flow (e.g., a result report 2770 generated as an output data object).

In some embodiments, each identifier may be generated by taking a hash of at least a portion of its associated object to generate a hash value that becomes the identifier. More specifically, a job flow identifier 2221 may be generated by taking a hash of at least a portion of the corresponding job flow definition 2220; a data object identifier 2331 may be generated by taking a hash of at least a portion of the corresponding data set 2330 or 2370; a task routine identifier 2441 may be generated by taking a hash of at least a portion of the corresponding task routine 2440; and/or a result report identifier 2771 may be generated by taking a hash of at least a portion of the corresponding result report 2770. Any of a variety of hash algorithms familiar to those skilled in the art may be employed. Such an approach to generating identifiers may be deemed desirable as it may provide a relatively simple mechanism to generate identifiers that are highly likely to be unique to each object, presuming that a large enough portion of each object is used as the basis for each hash taken and/or each of the identifiers is of a large enough bit width. In some embodiments, the size of the portions of each of these different objects of which a hash is taken may be identical. Alternatively or additionally, the bit widths of the resulting hash values that become the identifiers 2221, 2331, 2441 and 2771 may be identical.

Such an approach to generating identifiers may advantageously be easily implemented by devices other than the one or more federated devices 2500 to reliably generate identifiers for objects that are identical to the identifiers generated by the processor(s) 2550 of any of the one or more federated devices 2500. Thus, if a job flow is performed by another device, the instance log 2720 generated by the other device would use identifiers to refer to the objects associated with that performance that would be identical to the identifiers that would have been generated by the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 to refer to those same objects. As a result, such an instance log 2720 could be received by the one or more federated devices 2500 and stored within a federated area 2566 without the need to derive new identifiers to replace those already included within that instance log 2720 to refer to objects associated with a performance of a job flow.

Referring to FIG. 18A in addition to FIG. 18B, in some embodiments, the identifier component 2541 may cooperate with the admission component 2542 in causing the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 to analyze received objects to determine compliance with various restrictions as part of determining whether to allow those objects to be stored within the one or more federated areas 2566. More specifically, and by way of example, the identifier component 2541 may generate identifiers for each received object. The provision of identifiers for each received object may enable the admission component 2542 to cause the processor(s) 2550 to check whether the objects specified in a received instance log 2720 are available among the other objects received along with the received instance log 2720, as well as whether the objects specified in the received instance log 2720 are available as already stored within one or more of the federated areas 2566. If an object referred to in the received instance log 2720 is neither among the other received objects or among the objects already stored within one or more of the federated area 2566, then the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the admission component 2542 to disallow storage of the received instance log 2720 within the one or more federated areas 2566. As previously discussed, disallowing the storage of an instance log 2720 for such reasons may be deemed desirable to prevent storage of an instance log 2720 that describes a performance of a job flow that cannot be repeated due to one or more of the objects associated with that performance being missing.

Turning to FIG. 18C, in some embodiments, the generation of identifiers for instance logs 2720 may differ from the generation of identifiers for other objects. More specifically, while the identifiers 2221, 2331, 2441 and 2771 may each be derived by taking a hash of at least a portion of its corresponding object, an instance log identifier 2721 for an instance log 2720 may be derived from at least a portion of each of the identifiers for the objects that are associated with the performance that corresponds to that instance log 2720. Thus, as depicted, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by the identifier component 2541 to generate an instance log identifier 2721 for a performance of a job flow by concatenating at least a portion of each of a job flow identifier 2221, one or more data object identifiers 2331, one or more task routine identifiers 2441, and a result report identifier 2771 for a job flow definition 2220, one or more data sets 2330 and/or 2370, one or more task routines 2440, and a result report 2770, respectively, that are all associated with that performance of that job flow. In embodiments in which the bit widths of each of the identifiers 2221, 2331, 2441 and 2771 are identical, log identifiers 2721 may be formed from identically sized portions of each of such identifiers 2221, 2331, 2441 and 2771, regardless of the quantity of each of the identifiers 2221, 2331, 2441 and 2771 used. Such use of identically sized portions of such identifiers 2221, 2331, 2441 and 2771 may be deemed desirable to aid in limiting the overall bit widths of the resulting log identifiers 2721.

FIG. 18D illustrates such a concatenation of identifiers in greater detail using identifiers of objects associated with the example job flow 2200 fgh and the example performance 2700 afg 2 h earlier discussed in connection with FIGS. 17A-E. As depicted, after having generated a job flow identifier 2221 fgh, a data set identifier 2331 a, a task routine identifier 2441 f, a task routine identifier 2441 g 2, a task routine identifier 2441 h and a result report identifier 2771 afg 2 h for the example job flow definition 2220 fgh, the data set 2330 a, the task routine 2440 f, the task routine 2440 g 2, the task routine 2440 h and the result report 2770 afg 2 h, respectively, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the identifier component 2541 to concatenate at least an identically sized portion of each of these identifiers together to form the single instance log identifier 2721 afg 2 h for the example instance log 2720 afg 2 h of FIGS. 17A-E.

Turning to FIG. 18E, as depicted, the control routine 2540 executed by the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may include a database component 2545 to organize various ones of the objects 2220, 2270, 2330, 2370, 2440, 2470, 2720 and 2770 into one or more databases (or one or more other data structures of other varieties) for more efficient storage and retrieval thereof within each federated area 2566 of the one or more federated areas 2566. In some embodiments, such organization of objects may be performed within the storages 2560 of multiple ones of the federated devices 2500, which may be operated together as the federated device grid 2005. In other embodiments, such organization of objects may be performed within multiple ones of the storage devices 2600, which may be operated together as the storage device grid 2006. In different embodiments, either of the grids 2005 or 2006 may be employed to provide distributed storage space across multiple ones of the devices 2500 or 2600, respectively, for the one or more federated areas 2566.

As depicted, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the database component 2545 to generate and/or maintain a distinct job flow database 2562 of the job flow definitions 2220 within each federated area 2566. Within each job flow database 2562, the job flow definitions 2220 may be indexed or made otherwise addressable by their corresponding job flow identifiers 2221. The processor(s) 2550 may also be caused to generate and/or maintain a distinct data object database 2563 of the data sets 2330 and/or 2370, and/or for the result reports 2770 within each federated area 2566. Within each data object database 2563, each of the data sets 2330 and/or 2370 may be accessible via their corresponding data object identifiers 2331, and/or each of the result reports 2770 may be accessible via their corresponding result report identifiers 2771.

As also depicted, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the database component 2545 to generate and/or maintain a distinct task routine database 2564 of the task routines 2440 within each federated area 2566. Within each task routine database 2564, the task routines 2440 may be indexed or made otherwise addressable both by their corresponding task routine identifiers 2441, and by the flow task identifiers 2241 that each may also be assigned to indicate the particular task that each is able to perform. As has been discussed, there may be tasks that multiple task routines 2440 are able to perform such that there may be sets of multiple task routines 2440 that all share the same flow task identifier 2241. In some embodiments, a search of a task routine database 2564 using a flow task identifier 2241 to find a task routine 2440 that is able to perform the task identified by that flow task identifier 2241 may beget an indication from the task routine database 2564 of there being more than one of such task routines 2440, such as a list of the task routine identifiers 2441 of such task routines 2440. Such an indication may also include an indication of which of the multiple task routines 2440 so identified is the most recent version thereof. Such an indication may be provided by an ordering of the task routine identifiers 2441 of the multiple task routines 2440 that places the task routine identifier 2441 of the most recent version of the task routines 2440 at a particular position within the list. In this way, indications of whether one, or more than one, task routines 2440 exist that are able to perform a task, as well as which one of multiple task routines 2440 is the newest version may be quickly provided by a task routine database 2564 in a manner that obviates the need to access and/or analyze any of the task routines 2440 therefrom.

As further depicted, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the database component 2545 to generate and/or maintain a distinct instance log database 2567 of the instance logs 2720 within each federated area 2566. Within each instance log database 2567, the instance logs 2720 may be indexed or made otherwise addressable by their corresponding instance log identifiers 2721. As has been discussed, each performance of a job flow may cause the generation of a separate corresponding instance log 2720 during that performance that provides a log of events occurring during the performance, including and not limited to, each performance of a task. In such embodiments, each instance log 2720 may be implemented as a separate data structure and/or file to provide indications of events occurring during the performance to which it corresponds. However, other embodiments are possible in which each of the instance logs 2720 is implemented as an entry of a larger log data structure and/or larger log data file, such as the instance log database 2567. In some embodiments, the manner in which the instance log identifiers 2721 of the instance logs 2720 are stored within an instance log database 2567 (or other data structure) may be structured to allow each of the instance log identifiers 2721 to be searched for at least portions of particular identifiers for other objects that were concatenated to form one or more of the instance log identifiers 2721. As will shortly be explained in greater detail, enabling such searches to be performed of the instance log identifiers 2721 may advantageously allow an instance log 2720 for a particular performance of a particular job flow to be identified in a manner that obviates the need to access and/or analyze any of the instance logs 2720 within an instance log database 2567.

As additionally depicted in FIG. 18E, the processor(s) 2250 may be additionally caused by the database component 2545 to store macros 2470 within task routine database(s) 2564 alongside the task routines 2440 from which each macro 2470 may be derived. As will be explained in greater detail, it may be deemed desirable to enable each macro 2470 to be searchable based on either the task routine identifier 2441 of the specific task routine 2440 from which it was generated, or the flow task identifier 2241 of the task that the task routine 2440 performs. As also additionally depicted in FIG. 18E, the processor (s0 2250 may be additionally caused by the database component 2545 to store DAGs 2270 within job flow database(s) 2562 alongside the job flow definitions 2220. As has been discussed, new job flow definitions 2220 may be at least partially based on DAGs 2270.

As depicted in FIG. 18E, within each federated area 2566, objects may be organized in object databases depicted in FIG. 18E in which object identifiers may be used to assist in more efficiently storing objects, to more efficiently identify what objects are within each database and/or to more efficiently retrieve objects therefrom. However, among federated areas 2566 that are part of a set of related federated areas (e.g., a linear hierarchy or hierarchical tree of federated areas), it may be deemed advantageous to maintain a separate index system of the object identifiers for use in locating objects that may be stored within any one of the federated areas 2566 within the set.

Each of FIGS. 19A and 19B illustrates an example embodiment of an index system that covers multiple federated areas within such a set of related federated areas. FIG. 19A depicts aspects of a single global index that covers all federated areas 2566 within the example hierarchical tree earlier introduced in FIGS. 15B-C, and FIG. 19B depicts aspects of multiple side-by-side indexes for each private federated area 2566 within the same example hierarchical tree.

Turning to FIG. 19A, a single global index of job flow identifiers 2221, data object identifiers 2331, task routine identifiers 2441, result report identifiers 2771 and instance log identifiers 2721 may be maintained by the one or more federated devices 2500 for use in identifying all the corresponding types of objects present within the federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u and 2566 x of the depicted example hierarchical tree. Additionally, as was depicted within FIGS. 18B and 18C, each of these identifiers may be paired and/or stored together with a corresponding one of multiple job flow location identifiers 2222, data object location identifiers 2332, task routine location identifiers 2442, result report location identifiers 2772 and instance log location identifiers 2722 that each specify which one of the federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q, 2566 r, 2566 u and 2566 x is the federated area in which each corresponding object is stored. Still further, each of the task routine identifiers 2441 may be correlated to a flow task identifier 2241 that identifies the task performed by each task routine 2440 in a manner similar to what was discussed in reference to FIG. 18E.

With such a single global index of identifiers and correlated location identifiers maintained for such a hierarchical set of federated areas 2566, a search for an object thereamong may start with searching such a global index to determine whether the object is stored within any of the federated areas 2566, and if so, to identify which federated area 2566 in which it is so stored. The search may then proceed to searching within the appropriate one of the databases 2562, 2563, 2564 or 2567 (depicted in FIG. 18E) within that federated area 2566 to retrieve that object. It should be noted that, in performing searches for objects among one or more federated areas 2566 in response to a request made by a particular user (and received by the one or more federated devices 2500), the scope of the search may be limited to cover only the one or more federated areas to which the requesting user has been granted access. This may be done in recognition of the inherent pointlessness of searching for objects that are not permitted to be made accessible to the requesting user.

Turning to FIG. 19B, in an alternate configuration of an index system, a separate index of similar content and/or structure may be generated and maintained for all federated areas along each pathway between the base federated area 2566 x and one of the private federated areas 2566 m, 2566 q and 2566 r. Such dividing up of such an index system may be deemed desirable where it is deemed likely that the majority of searches for objects will be limited to a single selected one of such pathways as part of implementing inheritance and/or priority relationships among the federated devices 2566 within each of those pathways. Alternatively or additionally, such dividing up of such an index system may be deemed desirable in recognition of a likelihood that each user may be granted access to only one private federated area 2566 such that a search for objects prompted by a request received from a user may, as discussed above, be limited to the federated areas to which the requesting user has been granted access. Thus, it may be deemed at least highly unlikely that any search performed in response to such a request would ever encompass more than one private federated area.

FIGS. 20A and 20B, together, illustrate the manner in which the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 selectively locate and retrieve objects from federated area(s) 2566 for transmission to another device and/or for use in directly performing a job flow. FIG. 20A illustrates aspects of selective retrieval of objects from one or more federated areas 2566 in response to requests received from one or more of the reviewing devices 2800, and FIG. 20B illustrates aspects of the use of identifiers assigned to objects to locate objects within one or more federated areas 2566 and/or to identify object associations.

Turning to FIG. 20A, one of the reviewing devices 2800 may be operated to transmit a request to the one or more federated devices 2500 to retrieve one or more objects associated with a job flow from within one or more federated areas 2566. Alternatively the request may be to use one or more objects associated with a job flow to perform the job flow to provide results of an analysis for viewing or other uses at the reviewing device 2800, or to repeat a previous performance of a job flow for purposes of reviewing aspects of that previous performance. In some embodiments, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to queue such requests as request data 2535 to enable out-of-order handling of requests, and/or other approaches to increase the efficiency with which requests are responded to. As previously discussed in connection with at least FIG. 18A, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 that receive the request may be caused by execution of the portal component 2549 to restrict access to the one or more federated areas 2566 for any of such requests to only authorized users, and may restrict the types of requests that may be granted to only those for which each user is authorized based on indications of such authorized users and/or types of granted access within the portal data 2539. Also, as depicted, the control routine 2540 may also include a selection component 2543 to employ one or more identifiers provided in a request and/or one or more rules to locate, select and retrieve objects associated with a job flow from the one or more federated areas 2566. The control routine 2540 may further include a performance component 2544 to perform a job flow or to repeat a previous performance of a job flow based on objects that the processor(s) 2550 are caused to retrieve from the one or more federated areas 2566 by the selection component 2543.

It should be noted that the granting of access to the one or more federated areas 2566 to retrieve one or more objects for transmission to a reviewing device 2800, and/or to transmit to a reviewing device 2800 one or more objects generated during a performance of a job flow by the one or more federated devices 2500, may lead to a parallel transfer of portions of one or more objects via the network 2999 from and/or to a grid of devices. This may be deemed desirable for the transfer of larger objects, such as result reports 2770 that include data set(s) that may be quite large in size. More precisely, in embodiments in which the reviewing device 2800 that transmitted a request that includes being provided with one or more objects is operated as part of a group or grid of multiple ones of the reviewing devices 2800, the granting of the request may result in multiple ones of the reviewing devices 2800 receiving one or more objects as multiple portions in at least partially parallel transfers. Correspondingly, in embodiments in which the federated device 2500 that received the request is operated as part of a federated device grid 2005, multiple ones of the federated devices 2500 may transmit one or more objects as portions and at least partially in parallel.

In executing the selection component 2543, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to use one or more identifiers of objects that may be provided in a granted request to directly retrieve those one or more objects from one or more federated areas 2566. By way of example, a request may be received for the retrieval and transmission to the requesting device of a particular data set 2330, and the request may include the data object identifier 2331 of the particular data set 2330. In response to the request, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to employ the provided data object identifier 2331 (and maybe to do so along with one or more correlated data object location identifiers 2332, as previously discussed in reference to FIGS. 18A-E and/or 19A-B) to search for the particular data set 2330 within one or more federated areas 2566, to then retrieve the particular data set 2330 from the federated area 2566 in which it is found, and to transmit it to the requesting device 2800.

However, other requests may be for the retrieval of objects from one or more federated areas 2566 where the identifiers of the requested objects may not be provided within the requests. Instead, such requests may employ other identifiers that provide an indirect reference to the requested objects.

In one example use of an indirect reference to objects, a request may be received for the retrieval and transmission to a reviewing device 2800 of a task routine that performs a particular task, and the request may include the flow task identifier 2241 of the particular task instead of any task routine identifier 2441 for any particular task routine 2440. The processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to employ the flow task identifier 2241 provided in the request to search within one or more federated areas 2566 for such task routines 2440. As has been previously discussed, the search may entail correlating the flow task identifiers 2241 to one or more task routine identifiers 2441 of the corresponding one or more task routines 2440 that may perform the task identified by the flow task identifier 2241. In embodiments in which the task routines 2440 have been organized into a task routine database 2564 within each federated area 2566 as depicted as an example in FIG. 18E (or other searchable data structure), the search may entail searches within such a database or other data structure within each federated area 2566 in which such a task routine 2440 is identified as stored. The result of such a search may be an indication from such a database or other data structure within one or more of such federated areas 2566 that there is more than one task routine 2440 that is able to perform the task identified by the flow task identifier 2241 provided in the request. As previously discussed, such an indication may be in the form of a list of the task routine identifiers 2441 for the task routines 2440 that are able to perform the specified task. Additionally, and as also previously discussed, such a list may be ordered to provide an indication of which of those task routines 2440 stored within a federated area 2566 is the newest. Again, it may be deemed desirable to favor the use of the newest version of a task routine 2440 that performs a particular task where there is more than one task routine 2440 stored within one or more federated areas 2566 that is able to do so. Thus, the processor 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to impose a requirement that, unless there is to be a repetition of a previous performance in which particular task routines 2440 were used, newest versions of task routines 2440 to perform each task are to be selected by default. Therefore, in response to the request, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to select the newest task routine 2440 indicated among all of the one or more of such lists retrieved within each of one or more federated areas 2566 to perform the task specified in the request by the flow task identifier 2241, and to transmit that newest version to the requesting device. Through such automatic selection and retrieval of the newest versions of task routines 2440, individuals and/or entities that may be developing new analyses may be encouraged to use the newest versions.

In another example use of an indirect reference to objects, a request may be received by the one or more federated devices 2500 to repeat a previous performance of a specified job flow with one or more specified data objects as inputs (e.g., one or more of the data sets 2330), or to provide the requesting device with the objects needed to repeat the previous performance of the job flow, itself. Thus, the request may include the job flow identifier 2221 of the job flow definition 2220 for the job flow, and may include one or more data object identifiers 2331 of the one or more data sets 2330 to be employed as inputs to the previous performance of that job flow sought to be repeated, but may not include identifiers for any other object associated with that previous performance.

The processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to employ the job flow identifier 2221 and the one or more data objects identifiers 2331 provided in the request to search one or more federated areas 2566 for all instance logs 2720 that provide an indication of a past performance of the specified job flow with the specified one or more input data objects. In embodiments in which the instance logs 2720 have been organized into an instance log database 2567 as depicted as an example in FIG. 18E (or other searchable data structure), the search may be within such a database or other data structure, and may be limited to the instance log identifiers 2721. More specifically, in embodiments in which the instance log identifiers 2721 were each generated by concatenating the identifiers of objects associated with a corresponding previous performance, the instance log identifiers 2721, themselves, may be analyzed to determine whether the identifiers provided in the request for particular objects are included within any of the instance log identifiers 2721. Thus, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to search each instance log identifier 2721 to determine whether there are any instance log identifiers 2721 that include the job flow identifier 2221 and all of the data object identifiers 2331 provided in the request. If such an instance log identifier 2721 is found, then it is an indication that the instance log 2720 that was assigned that instance log identifier 2721 is associated with a previous performance of that job flow associated with the one or more data sets 2330 specified in the request.

It should be noted, however, that a situation may arise in which more than one of such instance log identifiers 2721 may be found, indicating that there has been more than one past performance of the job flow with the one or more data sets. In response to such a situation, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to transmit an indication of the multiple previous performances to the requesting device along with a request for a selection to be made from among those previous performances. The processor(s) 2550 may then await a response from the requesting device that provides an indication of a selection from among the multiple previous performances. As an alternative to such an exchange with the requesting device, or in response to a predetermined period of time having elapsed since requesting a selection without an indication of a selection having been received by the one or more federated devices 2500, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to, as a default, select the most recent one of the previous performances.

After the finding of a single previous performance, or after the selection of one of multiple previous performances, the processor(s) 2550 may then be caused by the selection component 2543 to retrieve the task routine identifiers 2441 specified within the corresponding instance log 2720 of the particular task routines 2440 used in the previous performance. The processor(s) 2550 may then employ those task routine identifiers 2441 to retrieve the particular task routines 2440 associated with the previous performance from one or more federated areas 2566. The processor(s) 2550 may also be caused to retrieve the result report identifier 2771 specified within the instance log 2720 of the result report that was generated in the previous performance. The processor(s) 2550 may be further caused to retrieve any data object identifiers 2331 that may be present within the instance log 2720 that specify one or more data sets 2370 that may have been generated as a mechanism to exchange data between task routines 2440 during the performance of a job flow.

If the request was for the provision of objects to the requesting device, then the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to transmit, to the requesting device, the job flow definition 2220 and the one or more data sets 2330 specified by the job flow identifier 2221 and the one or more data object identifiers 2331, respectively, in the request. The processor 2550 may also be caused to transmit the instance log 2720 generated in the previous performance, and the result report 2770 specified by the result report identifier 2771 retrieved from the instance log 2720. If any data sets 2370 were indicated in the instance log 2720 as having been generated in the previous performance, then the processor(s) 2550 may be further caused to transmit such data set(s) 2370 to the requesting device. Thus, based on a request that provided only identifiers for a job flow definition 2220 and one or more data objects used as inputs to a previous performance of the job flow, a full set of objects may be automatically selected and transmitted to the requesting device to enable an independent performance of the job flow as part of a review of that previous performance.

However, if the request was for a repeat of the previous performance of the job flow by the one or more federated devices 2500, then instead of (or in addition to) transmitting the objects needed to repeat the previous performance to the requesting device, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by execution of the performance component 2544 to use those objects to repeat the previous performance within a federated area 2566 in which at least one of the objects is stored and/or to which the user associated with the request has been granted access. In some embodiments, the federated area 2566 in which the previous performance took place may be selected, by default, to be the federated area 2566 in which to repeat the performance. Indeed, repeating the performance within the same federated area 2566 may be deemed a requirement to truly reproduce the conditions under which the previous performance occurred. More specifically, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to execute the task routines 2440 specified in the instance log 2720, in the order specified in the job flow definition 2220 specified in the request, and using the one or more data sets 2330 specified in the request as input data objects. In some embodiments, where multiple ones of the federated devices 2500 are operated together as the federated device grid 2005, the processor(s) 2550 of the multiple ones of the federated devices 2500 may be caused by the performance component 2544 to cooperate to divide the execution of one or more of the tasks thereamong. Such a division of one or more of the tasks may be deemed desirable where one or more of the data objects associated with the job flow is of relatively large size. Regardless of the quantity of the federated devices 2500 involved in repeating the previous performance of the job flow, upon completion of the repeat performance, the processor(s) 2550 may be further caused by the performance component 2544 to transmit the newly regenerated result report 2770 to the requesting device. Alternatively or additionally, the processor(s) 2550 may perform a comparison between the newly regenerated result report 2770 and the result report 2770 previously generated in the previous performance to determine if there are any differences, and may transmit an indication of the results of that comparison to the requesting device. Thus, based on a request that provided only identifiers for a job flow definition 2220 and one or more data objects used as inputs to the job flow, a previous performance of a job flow may be repeated and the results thereof transmitted to the requesting device as part of a review of the previous performance.

In still another example use of an indirect reference to objects, a request may be received by the one or more federated devices 2500 to perform a specified job flow with one or more specified data objects as inputs (e.g., one or more of the data sets 2330). Thus, the request may include the job flow identifier 2221 of the job flow definition 2220 for the job flow, and may include one or more data object identifiers 2331 of the one or more data sets 2330 to be employed as input data objects, but may not include any identifiers for any other objects needed for the performance.

The processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to employ the job flow identifier 2221 provided in the request to retrieve the job flow definition 2220 for the job flow to be performed. The processor(s) 2550 may then be caused to retrieve the flow task identifiers 2241 from the job flow definition 2220 that specify the tasks to be performed, and may employ the flow task identifiers 2241 to retrieve the newest version of task routine 2440 within one or more federated areas 2566 (e.g., within the task routine database 2564 within each of one or more federated areas 2566) for each task. The processor(s) 2550 may also be caused by the selection component 2543 to employ the job flow identifier 2221 and the one or more data objects identifiers 2331 to search the one or more federated areas 2566 for any instance logs 2720 that provide an indication of a past performance of the specified job flow with the specified one or more input data objects.

If no such instance log identifier 2721 is found, then it is an indication that there is no record within the one or more federated areas of any previous performance of the specified job flow with the one or more specified data sets 2330. In response, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by execution of the performance component 2544 to execute the retrieved newest version of each of the task routines 2440 to perform the tasks of the job flow in the order specified in the job flow definition 2220 specified in the request, and using the one or more data sets 2330 specified in the request as input data objects. Again, in embodiments in which multiple ones of the federated devices 2500 are operated together as the federated device grid 2005, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the performance component 2544 to cooperate to divide the execution of one or more of the tasks thereamong. Upon completion of the performance of the job flow, the processor(s) 2550 may be further caused by the performance component 2544 to transmit the result report 2770 generated in the performance of the job flow to the requesting device. Thus, based on a request that provided only identifiers for a job flow definition 2220 and one or more data objects used as inputs to the job flow, a performance of a job flow is caused to occur using the newest available versions of task routines 2440 to perform each task.

However, if such an instance log identifier 2721 is found, then it is an indication that there was a previous performance of the job flow specified in the request where the one or more data sets 2330 specified in the request were used as input data objects. If a situation should occur where multiple ones of such instance log identifiers 2721 are found, then it is an indication that there have been multiple previous performances of the job flow, and the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to select the most recent one of the multiple previous performances, by default. After the finding of a single previous performance, or after the selection of the most recent one of multiple previous performances, the processor(s) 2550 may then be caused by the selection component 2543 to retrieve the task routine identifiers 2441 specified within the corresponding instance log 2720 of the particular task routines 2440 used in the previous performance. The processor(s) 2550 may then employ those task routine identifiers 2441 to retrieve the particular task routines 2440 associated with the previous performance from one or more federated areas 2566. The processor 2550 may then compare each of the task routines 2440 specified in the instance log 2720 to the newest task routines 2440 retrieved for each task specified in the job flow definition 2220 to determine whether all of the task routines 2440 specified in the instance log 2720 are the newest versions thereof. If so, then the result report 2770 generated in the previous performance associated with the instance log 2720 was generated using the most recent versions of each of the task routines 2440 needed to perform the tasks of the job flow. The processor(s) 2550 may then entirely forego performing the job flow, may employ the result report identifier 2771 provided in the instance log 2720 to retrieve the result report 2770 generated in the earlier performance, and may transmit that result report 2770 to the requesting device. In this way, a form of caching is provided by which the previously generated result report 2770 is able to be recognized as reusable, and the use of processing resources of the one or more federated devices 2500 to repeat a previous performance of the job flow is avoided.

It should be noted, however, that a situation may arise in which one or more of the task routines 2440 specified in the instance log 2720 are the newest versions thereof, while one or more others of the task routines 2440 specified in the instance log 2720 are not. In response to such a situation, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection routine 2543 to check whether at least the task routine 2440 specified in the instance log 2720 as performing the first task in the order of tasks specified in the job flow definition 2220 is the newest version of task routine 2440 able to perform that task. If not, then the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the performance component 2544 to employ all of the newest versions of the task routines 2440 to perform the entire job flow, just as the processor(s) 2550 would be caused to do so if there had been no previous performance of the job flow, at all. However, if the first task in the previous performance of the job flow was performed with the newest version of task routine 2440 able to perform that first task, then the processor(s) 2550 may iterate through each task in the order of tasks specified in job flow definition 2720 to determine which were performed with the newest version of task routine 2440. The processor(s) 2550 would start with the first task in the specified order of tasks, and stop wherever in the specified order of tasks the processor(s) 2550 determine that a task routine 2440 was used that is not the newest version thereof. In this way, the processor(s) 2550 may identify an initial portion of the order of tasks specified in the job flow definition 2220 that may not need to be performed again as they were already performed using the newest versions of their respective task routines 2440. As a result, only the remainder of the tasks that follow the initial portion in the order of tasks may need to be performed again, but using the newest versions of their respective task routines 2440 for all of those remaining tasks. In this way, a form of partial caching is provided by which an initial portion of a previous performance of a job flow is able to be reused such that not all of the job flow needs to be performed again to generate a result report 2770 to be transmitted to the requesting device.

FIG. 20B illustrates two examples of searching for objects using one or more identifiers that provide an indirect reference to those objects in greater detail. More specifically, FIG. 20B depicts two different searches for objects that each employ the example instance log identifier 2721 afg 2 h associated with the 2720 afg 2 h instance log of the example performance of the job flow 2200 fgh of FIGS. 17A-E.

In one example search, and referring to both FIGS. 20A and 20B, a request may be received (and stored as part of the request data 2535) for the retrieval of objects associated with, and/or for a repetition of, the example performance 2700 afg 2 h that resulted in the generation of the result report 2770 afg 2 h. In so doing, the request may use the result report identifier 2771 afg 2 h to refer to the result report 2770 afg 2 h, while providing no other identifier for any other object associated with the performance 2700 afg 2 h. In response, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to cooperate with the database component 2545 to search the instance log identifiers 2721 of the instance log database 2567 within one or more federated areas 2566 to locate the one of the multiple instance log identifiers 2721 that includes the result report identifier 2771 afg 2 h. As depicted, the instance log identifier 2721 afg 2 h is the one of the multiple instance log identifiers 2721 that contains the result report identifier 2771 afg 2 h. With the instance log identifier 2721 afg 2 h having been found, the processor(s) 2550 may then be caused by the selection component 2543 to retrieve, from the instance log 2720 afg 2 h, the identifiers of the various objects requested to be transmitted to the requesting device and/or needed to repeat the example performance 2700 afg 2 h.

In another example search, a request may be received for a repetition of a previous performance of a specific job flow with a specific data object used as input. In so doing, the request may refer to the example job flow 2200 fgh of FIGS. 17A-E by using the job flow identifier 2221 fgh of the job flow definition 2220 fgh that defines the example job flow 2200 fgh, and may refer to the data set 2330 a by using the data object identifier 2331 a. In response, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to cooperate with the database component 2545 to search the instance log identifiers 2721 of the instance log database 2567 within one or more federated areas 2566 to locate any of the multiple instance log identifiers 2721 that includes the both the job flow identifier 2221 fgh and the data object identifier 2331 a. As depicted, the instance log identifier 2721 afg 2 h is the one of the multiple instance log identifiers 2721 that contains both of these identifiers 2221 fgh and 2331 a. With the instance log identifier 2721 afg 2 h having been found, the processor(s) 2550 may then be caused by the selection component 2543 to retrieve, from the instance log 2720 afg 2 h, the identifiers of the various objects needed to repeat the example performance 2700 afg 2 h. The processor(s) 2550 may then be caused by execution of the performance component 2544 to perform the example job flow 2200 fgh with the data set 2330 a as the input data object.

FIGS. 21A, 21B, 21C, 21D and 21E, together, illustrate various aspects of the generation of a DAG 2270 and the provision of a visualization 2980 of a DAG 2270 in greater detail. FIG. 21A illustrates aspects of collecting information concerning inputs and/or outputs of at least one task routine 2440 in preparation for generating a DAG 2270. FIG. 21B illustrates aspects of generating a DAG 2270 based on collected information concerning inputs and/or outputs of at least one task routine 2440. FIGS. 21C and 21D, taken together, illustrate aspects of generating a visualization 2980 of a DAG 2270 to visually indicate a connection or a lack of connection between a pair of task routines. FIG. 21E illustrates aspects of the generation and storage of a new DAG 2270 from a visualization 2980 of an edited DAG 2270.

FIG. 21A illustrates aspects of the generation of a macro 2470 for each task routine 2440 that may be included in a DAG 2270 as an intermediate step to generating the DAG 2270. Such an intermediate step may be performed where the objects that serve as the sources of the information to be depicted in a DAG 2270 are located remotely from where a visualization 2980 of the DAG 2270 is to be displayed, such as where those objects are stored within federated area(s) 2566 maintained by one or more federated devices 2500, but the DAG 2270 is to be displayed by a source device 2100 or a reviewing device 2800. In such situations, the one or more macros 2470 that are so generated may then be transmitted to the device that is to display the visualization 2980 to enable the DAG 2270 to be generated thereat from the one or more macros 2470. However, it should be noted that, where the DAG 2270 is to be generated and/or a visualization 2980 of it is to be displayed locally (e.g., by a computing device with more direct access to the objects that serve as the sources of the information to be depicted), then the DAG 2270 may be generated more directly, and while foregoing the generation of macro(s) 2470. Also, as an alternative to the generation and transmission of macros 2470 to a remote device that is to display a DAG 2270 generated therefrom, the DAG 2270, itself, may be generated locally (e.g., at one or more of the federated devices 2500) and then an image of the DAG 2270 may be transmitted to the device that is to display a visualization 2980 of the DAG 2270.

As depicted, an example task routine 2440 from which at least a portion of a DAG 2270 may be generated may include executable instructions 2447 written in any of a variety of programming languages and comments 2448 written in a syntax for comments that may be based on the programming language in which the executable instructions 2447 are written. It should be noted that, for the sake of understandability in presentation, what is depicted is a deliberately simplified example of a task routine 2440 in which there is a single block of comments 2448 that precedes a single block of executable instructions 2447. As also depicted, and in keeping with the earlier discussed approaches to enabling the automated selection of task routines 2440 to perform specific tasks, the depicted example task routine 2440 may include the flow task identifier 2241 that identifies the particular task that is performed by the task routine 2440.

As also depicted, and in keeping with the earlier discussed approaches to organizing task routines 2440 for later retrieval and use, the depicted example task routine 2440 may be stored within a federated area 2566 in which a task routine database 2564 may also be stored that may employ an indexing scheme by which the task routine 2440 is able to be retrieved by the task routine identifier 2441 assigned to it. As has was also previously discussed, the task routine database 2564 may correlate flow task identifiers 2241 of tasks to be performed with task routine identifiers 2441 of the task routine(s) 2440 that perform each of those tasks. However, as previously noted, other mechanisms than a database may be employed to enable the retrieval of task routines 2440 for use in the performances of their respective tasks during the performance of a job flow. As has also been discussed, the federated area 2566 in which the depicted example task routine 2440 is stored may be one of a set of multiple related federated areas 2566, such as a linear hierarchy or a hierarchical tree. Thus, as depicted, the portal data 2539 (or other data structure) may store various parameters associated with each of the multiple federated areas 2566 within such a set of federated areas 2566, including aspects of relationships thereamong, and a separate federated area identifier 2568 for each.

In executing the interpretation component 2547, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to parse the comments 2448 (whether divided into multiple blocks throughout the task routine 2440, or not) to identify, retrieve and interpret at least portions of the comments 2448 that specify aspects of inputs and/or outputs of the task routine 2440. Such aspects that may be so specified may include, and are not limited to, data types of data objects received as inputs and/or generated as outputs, and/or indexing schemes that may be employed in accessing data within data objects. Some of such comments 2448 may identify particular data objects used as inputs and/or generated as outputs, and this may be done to provide default selections of data objects. Alternatively, others of such comments 2448 may avoid doing so as part of an approach to allowing particular data object(s) to be specified by a job flow definition, or in any of a variety of other ways, during the performance of a job flow in which the task routine may be executed. In parsing the comments 2448, the processor(s) 2550 may be caused to retrieve various rules for interpreting the contents of the task routine 2440 from a stored set of parameter rules 2537, including language interpretation rules for at least the particular programming language in which the task routine 2440 was written. The processor(s) 2550 may be caused to use such rules to distinguish the comments 2448 from at least the executable instructions 2447, and may use such rules to interpret them.

In further executing the interpretation component 2547, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to generate a macro 2470 corresponding to the task routine 2440 that includes one or more input/output (I/O) parameters 2478 that indicate the details concerning inputs and/or outputs that are retrieved from the executable instructions 2447 and/or the comments 2448 of the task routine 2440. Additionally, other pieces of information may also be included in the macro 2470, such as the flow task identifier 2241 indicating the task performed when the task routine 2440 is executed, and/or the federated area identifier 2568 of the federated area 2566 in which the depicted example task routine 2440 is stored.

In some embodiments, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may additionally compare aspects of inputs and/or outputs indicated in the comments 2448 to how those aspects are actually implemented in the executable instructions 2447 to determine whether they match. Where discrepancies are detected, side by side sets of I/O parameters 2478 may be stored within the depicted example macro 2470, with one based on the comments 2448 and the other based on the executable instructions 2447, as a way of indicating a discrepancy therebetween. This may be deemed desirable to allow the details of such a discrepancy to be displayed as part of the DAG 2270 that is later generated from the macro 2470.

Turning to FIG. 21B, as depicted, an example DAG 2270 may be generated and then visually presented in an example visualization 2980 in which the example task routine 2440 of FIG. 21A is represented with a combination of graph objects, including a task graph object 2984 accompanied by an input data graph object 2983 and an output data graph object 2987. It should be noted that, for the sake of understandability in presentation, what is depicted is a deliberately simplified example of a DAG 2270 in which there is a single task routine 2440 depicted that has a single input and a single output. However, it is envisioned that other embodiments of the DAG 2270 may be generated that may include representations of a great many task routines 2440 of which many would may include multiple inputs and/or multiple outputs.

As depicted in the example visualization 2980, the graph objects 2983, 2984 and 2987 that form such a representation of the task routine 2440 of FIG. 21A may each be selected to visually conform, to at least some degree, to version 2.0 of the BPMN specification for visual representations of objects. More specifically, a rounded rectangle may be selected to be the task graph object 2984, and circles connected to the task graph object 2984 by arrows may be selected to be the data graph objects 2983 and 2987. In generating the task graph object 2984, some form of identifier of the task routine 2440 may be placed within the rounded rectangle shape thereof. In some embodiments, such an identifier may be the task routine identifier 2441 assigned to the task routine 2440 and/or the flow task identifier 2241 that identifies the task performed by the task routine 2440, each of which may be included within and retrieved from the macro 2470. However, as previously discussed, at least the task routine identifier 2441 may be a hash value of numerous bytes in size generated by taking a hash of at least a portion of the task routine 2440 such that the task routine identifier 2441 may be cumbersome for personnel to read, recognize and use as a mechanism to uniquely identify the task routine 2440. Therefore, the task routine 2440 may be assigned a less cumbersome textual name that may be placed within the rounded rectangle shape of the task graph object 2984. It may be that such an assigned textual name may be based on a name given to the file in which the task routine 2440 is stored in embodiments in which objects are stored within the federated area(s) 2566 as files with textual file names. Alternatively or additionally, it may be that such an assigned textual name may be specified in the comments 2448 of the task routine 2440.

Additionally, in embodiments in which the task routine 2440 is stored within a federated area 2566 that belongs to a set of related federated areas 2566, some form of identifier of the specific federated area 2566 in which the task routine 2440 is stored may be placed within the rounded rectangle shape of the task graph object 2984. In some embodiments, such an identifier may be the federated area identifier 2568. As previously discussed, it may be that the federated area identifier 2568 is a URL that may include a textual name given to the federated area 2566, and may additionally indicate a path among multiple federated areas 2566 by which the federated area 2566 that stores the task routine 2440 is connected to a base federated area 2566 (unless the federated area 2566 in which the task routine 2440 is stored is the base federated area). Further, in embodiments in which the federated area identifier 2568 is a URL and in which the task routine 2440 is assigned a textual name based on a file name, the federated area identifier 2568 may be combined with such a name into a single string of text within the rounded rectangle that both identifies the task routine 2440 and specifies its location among the set of related federated areas 2566 in relation to the base federated area thereof.

In generating the input data graph object 2983, some form of identifier of the input data object represented thereby may be placed within or adjacent to the input data graph object 2983. Similarly, in generating the output data graph object 2987, some form of identifier of the output data object represented thereby may be placed within or adjacent to the output data graph object 2987. As previously discussed, the comments 2448 within a task routine 2440 may provide a more or less specific indication of a data object serving as an input or an output, and this may depend on whether it is intended that a data object is to be specified when the task routine 2440 is executed as part of a performance of a job flow, or the identity of the data object is already known such that it is able to be specifically identified in the comments 2448.

Focusing, for sake of ease of discussion, on the input data graph object 2983, if the identity of the specific data object for this input (e.g., the depicted example data set 2330) is already known at the time the task routine 2440 is written, then some form of identifier of that specific data object may be specified in the comments 2448 and/or in the executable instructions 2447. In some embodiments, such an identifier may be the data object identifier 2331 assigned to the depicted example data set 2330. However, as previously discussed, as with the task routine identifier 2441 of the task routine 2440, the data object identifier 2331 may also be a hash value of numerous bytes in size such that the data object identifier 2331 may also be cumbersome for personnel to read, recognize and use. Therefore, as with the task routine 2440, the depicted data set 2330 may be assigned a less cumbersome textual name that may be incorporated into its data set metadata 2338, and this textual name may be placed within or adjacent to the circular input data graph object 2983. As with such a textual name that may be assigned to the task routine 2440, such a textual name assigned to the data set 2330 may be based on a name given to the file in which the data set 2330 is stored in embodiments in which objects are stored within the federated area(s) 2566 as files with textual file names.

However, and still focusing on the input data graph object 2983, if the identity of the specific data object for this input is not already known at the time the task routine 2440 is written, then the name of a variable or some other form of placeholder may be specified in the comments 2448 and/or in the executable instructions 2447. In such embodiments, it may be the name or other identifier of that variable or other type of placeholder that may be placed within or adjacent to the circular input data graph object 2983. It should be noted that such approaches to providing a visual indication of the identity of the input data object associated with the depicted input data graph object 2983 may also be applied to providing a visual indication of the identity of the output data object (not shown) associated with the depicted output data graph object 2987.

FIGS. 21C and 21D, taken together, depict an embodiment of an approach to conveying either the presence of a dependency or the lack of a dependency between two task routines in visualizations 2980 of contrasting examples of DAGs 2270. Each of the example visualizations 2980 of FIGS. 21C and 21D includes representations of two task routines 2440 a and 2440 b, where the task routine 2440 a is represented by a combination of a task graph object 2984 a and corresponding data graph objects 2983 and 2987, and where the task routine 2440 b is represented by a combination of a task graph object 2984 b and other corresponding data graph objects 2983 and 2987. However, in the visualization 2980 of FIG. 21C, a vertical arrangement of the representations of the task routines 2440 a and 2440 b is used to provide a visual indication of no dependency therebetween, such that there is no data object output by one of the task routines 2440 a and 2440 b that is needed as an input to the other. In contrast, in the visualization 2980 of FIG. 21D, a horizontal arrangement of the representations of the task routines 2440 a and 2440 b provides the suggestion of a left-to-right path of dependency from the task routine 2440 a to the task routine 2440 b. Reinforcing this indication of such a dependency is an additional arrow pointing from the representation of the task routine 2440 a to the representation of the task routine 2440 b. It should be noted that, although such a use of an arrow is depicted as providing an indication of such a dependency (regardless of whether horizontal arrangement is also used), any of a variety of other forms of indication of such a dependency may be used in other embodiments. By way of example, color coding, graphical symbols and/or other form of visual connector indicative of the dependency may be used to.

In situations, in which a visualization 2980 is to be generated of a DAG 2270 that includes multiple task routines 2440, the details of the inputs and outputs of each of the task routines may be analyzed to identify any instances that may be present of a particular data object having been specified as both an output of one task routine 2440 and an input of another task routine 2440. Such a situation, if found, may be deemed to indicate a dependency in which the one task routine 2440 provides the particular data object that is needed as an input to the other 2440, such as what is depicted in FIG. 21D between the output of task routine 2440 a and the input of task routine 2440 b. Again, as a result of such a dependency, execution of the task routine 2440 a may be required to occur ahead of the execution of the task routine 2440 b so as to ensure that the output of the task routine 2440 a is able to be provided to the task routine 2440 b for use during its execution.

FIG. 21E depicts aspects of the generation and storage, within a federated area 2566, of a new DAG 2270 from a visualization 2980 of an earlier DAG 2270 that may have been edited. More specifically, in some embodiments a UI may be provided to allow editing of aspects of one or more task routines 2440 of an existing DAG 2270 by graphically editing corresponding aspects of graph objects 2983, 2984 and/or 2987 of one or more corresponding representations of task routines 2440. Thus, where a visualization 2980 is initially generated of a DAG 2270, provision may be made for such editing to allow details of a new DAG 2270 to be developed. Further, upon completion of such editing, the new DAG 2270 thusly developed may then be stored within a federated area 2566, and may subsequently be used as at least a basis for a new job flow definition 2220 that defines a new job flow.

Such editing may entail changing the visual indication(s) of one or more I/O parameters 2478 that may be visually indicated within or adjacent to an input data graph object 2983 or an output data graph object 2987 to thereby change the one or more I/O parameters 2478 that correspond to those visual indication(s). More specifically, where a name or other identifier of a data object 2330 or 2370 that is generated as an output of a task routine 2440 is visually presented adjacent to the corresponding output data graph object 2987, an edit made in which that name or other identifier is changed in the visualization 2980 may trigger a corresponding change in what data object 2330 or 2370 is generated as an output. Correspondingly, where a name or other identifier of a data object 2330 or 2370 that is used as an input to a task routine 2440 is visually presented adjacent to the corresponding input data graph object 2983, an edit made in which that name or other identifier is changed in the visualization 2980 may trigger a corresponding change in what data object 2330 or 2370 is used as an input. As a result of such editing capabilities being provided, dependencies between task routines may be created, changed and/or entirely removed. In at least this way, the order of performance of tasks, and/or which tasks are able to be performed in parallel, may be changed as part of creating a new DAG 2270 that may be employed as at least part of a new job flow definition 2220.

As previously discussed, a DAG 2270 may be stored in a federated area as a script generated in a process description language such as BPMN. In some embodiments, at least a subset of the job flow definitions 2220 maintained within one or more federated areas 2566 by the one or more federated devices 2500 may also be stored, at least partially, as scripts in such a process description language as BPMN. Thus, there may be few, if any, differences in the contents of DAGs 2270 vs. job flow definitions 2220 such that a DAG 2270 may be usable as a job flow definition 2220 with little or no modification. It is for this reason that DAGs 2270 may be stored alongside job flow definitions 2220 in the earlier described job flow database 2562.

FIGS. 22A and 22B, together, illustrate aspects of the generation of GUI instructions 2229 from sketch input. More specifically, each of FIGS. 22A and 22B illustrates aspects of an embodiment of cooperation among the devices 2100, 2500, 2600 and/or 2800 in training to recognize sketch input, in interpreting sketch input to perform commands to aid in the development of GUI instructions 2229, in interpreting sketch input representative of commands that are to become GUI instructions 2229, and in executing GUI instructions 2229 to provide a job flow GUI 2919 during a performance of a job flow 2220.

As depicted in both FIGS. 22A and 22B, the input device 2110 and the display 2180 of a source device 2100 may be operated together with a stylus 2118 to provide a sketch UI 2910 that enables an operator to provide sketch input. More precisely, the input device 2110 may take the form of any of a variety of touch input components (e.g., touch sensitive resistive and/or capacitive devices, infrared beam grid components, gesture recognition sensors, etc.) that is overlain atop the display 2180 (or otherwise co-located with the display 2180) to form a touch-sensitive display device that is able to detect contact of the tip of the stylus 2118 thereon and/or movement of the tip of the stylus 2118 relative thereto. As the stylus 2118 is put into contact with such a touch-sensitive display device and moved around relative thereto as part of providing sketch input that is detected by the input device 2110, the display 2180 may be operated to provide visual confirmation feedback of the sketch input being detected.

Turning to FIG. 22A, the depicted source device 2100 may be operated in a manner akin to being a remote terminal device or remote client device of the depicted federated device 2500 (e.g., through the network 2999) for purposes of developing objects associated with one or more job flows 2200 to be stored within one or more federated areas 2566 (e.g., one or more of the depicted objects 2220, 2270, 2330, 2370, 2440, 2470, 2720 and 2770) maintained by one or more federated devices 2500 and/or storage devices 2600. As depicted, the control routine 2140 of the source device 2100 may incorporate a browser/terminal component 2149 that causes the processor 2150 to relay sketch input detected by the input device 2110 to the federated device 2500 for interpretation, and to operate the display 2180 to visually present graphical images generated within the federated device 2500 based on that sketch input. Correspondingly, the portal component 2549 of the control routine 2540 of the federated area device may cause the processor 2550 to receive the relayed sketch input from the source device 2100 and to relay the graphical images generated based on that sketch input back to the source device 2100.

As depicted, the control routine 2540 may include an interaction component 2548 to cause at least one processor 2550 to coordinate the operation of the input device 2110 and the display 2180, remotely through the browser/terminal component 2149 and the portal component 2549 as part of remotely providing the sketch UI 2910. Additionally, the control routine 2540 may also include an interpretation component 2547 that analyzes the sketch input that is so remotely received to recognize and interpret the meaning of various aspects thereof, including and not limited to, text characters of a selected language and/or various visual tokens that belong to a vocabulary of visual tokens. As will be explained in greater detail, the processor 2550 may be caused to perform various actions in response to the interpretations made of the sketch input and/or may be caused to generate GUI instructions 2229 from interpretations made of the sketch input.

With the GUI instructions 2229 having been so generated, the depicted reviewing device 2800 may be subsequently operated in a manner akin to being a remote terminal device or remote client device of the depicted federated device 2500 (e.g., through the network 2999) for purposes of causing the performance of the job flow 2200 by the processor(s) 2550 of one or more of the federated devices 2500. As depicted, the control routine 2840 of the reviewing device 2800 may incorporate a browser/terminal component 2849 that causes the processor 2850 to relay operator input detected by the input device 2810 to the federated device 2500, and to operate the display 2880 to visually present graphical images generated within the federated device 2500 as part of operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 of one or more federated devices 2500 in response to that operator input. The portal component 2549 of the control routine 2540 of the federated area device may cause the processor 2550 to receive the relayed operator input from the reviewing device 2800 and to relay the graphical images generated by such performed operations back to the reviewing device 2800.

The interaction component 2548 of the control routine 2540 may cause at least one processor 2550 to coordinate the operation of the input device 2810 and the display 2880, remotely through the browser/terminal component 2849 and the portal component 2549 as part of causing the performance of a job flow 2200 under the control of the reviewing device 2800. During that performance, the performance component 2544 of the control routine 2540 within one or more of the federated devices 2500 may cause the processor(s) 2550 thereof to retrieve the necessary objects for the performance from one or more federated areas 2566, including the job flow definition 2220 that defines the job flow 2200. With the job flow definition 2220 so retrieved, at least one processor 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 that performs the job flow 2200 may be caused by the performance component 2544 to retrieve the GUI instructions 2229 stored therein. The at least one processor 2550 may then be caused by the interaction component 2548 to execute the GUI instructions 2229 to operate the input device 2810 and the display 2880 (through the portal component 2549 and the browser/terminal component 2849) to provide a job flow GUI 2919 to the operator of the reviewing device 2800. In a job flow GUI 2919, the operator of the reviewing device 2800 may be presented with one or more prompts on one or more GUI pages to provide one or more pieces of information needed for the execution of the job flow 2200.

Such use of the depicted source device 2100 and the depicted reviewing device 2800 as remote terminal devices or remote client devices may be part of an overall architecture of the distributed processing system 2000 in which the federated devices 2500 are normally used to perform job flows 2200, such as the example embodiment of the distributed processing system depicted in FIGS. 13A-B. However, it should be noted that, in other embodiments of the distributed processing system 2000, such as the example embodiment of the distributed processing system depicted in FIGS. 14A-B, the source device 2100 and/or the reviewing device 2800 may locally perform job flows 2200.

Turning to FIG. 22B, in such an overall architecture of the distributed processing system in which the depicted source device 2100 and/or the depicted reviewing device 2800 may be operated to locally perform a job flow 2200, the control routine 2140 of the source device 2100 may include an interaction component 2148 and an interpretation component 2147. The interaction component 2148 may cause the processor 2150 to locally provide the sketch UI 2910 that enables an operator that enables an operator to provide sketch input. The interpretation component 2147 may cause the processor 2150 to locally analyze the sketch input to recognize and interpret the meaning of various aspects thereof, including and not limited to, text characters of a selected language and/or various visual tokens that belong to a vocabulary of visual tokens. Again, as will be explained in greater detail, the processor 2550 may be caused to perform various actions in response to the interpretations made of the sketch input and/or may be caused to generate GUI instructions 2229 from interpretations made of the sketch input. With the GUI instructions so generated, the GUI instructions 2229 may be stored within a job flow definition 2220 that is transmitted to one of the federated devices 2500 for storage within a federated area 2566, along with other objects that may be needed for a performance of the job flow 2200 defined by that job flow definition 2220.

With the GUI instructions 2229 having been so generated and stored as part of a job flow definition 2220, the depicted reviewing device 2800 may be subsequently operated to locally perform the job flow 2200, the control routine 2840 may include an interaction component 2848 and a performance component 2844. The interaction component 2848 may cause the processor 2850 to operate the display 2880 to visually present graphical images generated by the processor 2850 as part of the processor 2850 also being caused by the performance component 2844 to perform the job flow 2200. During that performance, the performance component 2844 may cause the processor 2850 to request the necessary objects for the performance from one of the federated devices 2500, including the job flow definition 2220 that defines the job flow 2200. Upon receipt of the job flow definition 2220 received, the processor 2850 may be caused by the performance component 2844 to retrieve the GUI instructions 2229 stored therein. The processor 2850 may then be caused by the interaction component 2848 to execute the GUI instructions 2229 to operate the input device 2810 and the display 2880 to provide a job flow GUI 2919 to the operator of the reviewing device 2800. Again, in such a GUI, the operator of the reviewing device 2800 may be presented with one or more prompts on one or more GUI pages to provide one or more pieces of information needed for the execution of the job flow 2200.

FIGS. 23A, 23B, 23C, 23D, 23E, 23F and 23G, together, illustrate in greater detail an embodiment of preparations for using sketch input through the sketch UI 2910 to generate GUI instructions 2229 for inclusion in a job flow definition 2220 to provide a corresponding job flow GUI 2919 when the job flow 2200 of the job flow definition 2220 is performed. FIGS. 23A-B, together, illustrate an embodiment of training of a neural network 2571 to recognize various visual tokens that may be entered as sketch input via the sketch UI 2910. FIG. 23C illustrates an example of the visual feedback that is provided through the sketch UI 2910 when an example visual token is successfully recognized. FIG. 23D illustrates an example set 2911 of such visual tokens defining a vocabulary of visual tokens. FIGS. 23E-G illustrate, more closely, the display of three example visual tokens.

Turning to FIGS. 23A-B, as previously discussed, a combination of the input device 2110 and display 2180 of one of the source devices 2100 may be physically co-located and operated together in conjunction with the stylus 2118 to provide the sketch UI 2910 by which an operator the source device 2100 may provide sketch input. As also previously discussed, such operation of the input device 2110 and display 2180 may be locally by the processor 2150 of the source device 2100 as a result of executing a combination of the interaction component 2148 and the interpretation component 2147. Alternatively, such operation of the input device 2110 and display 2180 may be remotely (e.g., through the network 2999) by a processor 2550 of a federated device 2500 as a result of executing a combination of the interaction component 2548 and the interpretation component 2547, as well as through a combination of the browser/terminal component 2149 executed by the processor 2150 and the portal component 2549 executed by the processor 2550.

Where the sketch UI 2910 is caused to be locally provided by the processor 2150 of the source device 2100 under the control of the interaction component 2148 and the interpretation component 2147, the interpretation component 2147 may cause the processor 2150 to locally instantiate and employ the neural network 2571 to perform the recognition and interpretation of visual tokens and/or text within the sketch input received via the sketch UI 2910. In some embodiments, the neural network 2571 may be implemented as software-based artificial neural network (ANN) by the processor 2150, where the processor 2150 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a processor that incorporates a combination of CPU and GPU cores. In other embodiments, the source device 2100 may incorporate one or more neuromorphic devices (similar to the neuromorphic devices 2570 that have been discussed as being incorporated into some embodiments of the federated devices 2500) that may enable each artificial neuron of the neural network 2571 to be implemented with hardware components (e.g., hardware-based memristors) such that the neural network 2571 is implemented as a hardware-based ANN. Alternatively, where the sketch UI 2910 is caused to be remotely provided by the processor 2550 of at federated device 2500 under the control of the interaction component 2548 and the interpretation component 2547, the interpretation component 2547 may cause the processor 2550 to instantiate and employ the neural network 2571 to perform the recognition and interpretation of visual tokens and/or text within the sketch input received via the sketch UI 2910. Again, the neural network 2571 may be implemented as software-based ANN, or one or more of the neuromorphic devices 2570 (if present) may be employed to implement the neural network 2571 as a hardware-based ANN.

Regardless of the exact manner in which the neural network 2571 is implemented, as will be familiar to those skilled in the art, the neural network 2571 must be configured for use. In some embodiments, the parameter rules 2137 or 2537 may include neural network configuration data 2371 with which the neural network 2571 may be so configured. The neural network configuration data 2371 may include one or more hyperparameters configuring such aspects of the neural network 2571 as the overall quantity of artificial neurons, the quantity of layers into which those artificial neurons are organized, the connections to be made among those artificial neurons, and/or the direction of flow of information through those connections, which may define the classification of the neural network 2571 (e.g., whether it is of a feed-forward type or another type that may include feed-back signal paths, such as a convolution neural network (CNN), etc.). Alternatively or additionally, the neural network configuration data 2371 may include various parameters, at least some of which may be generated through training, such as the weight and/or bias values for each input and/or output of each artificial neuron, a specification of the criteria that must be met for each input to respond to a input signal, and/or a specification of the criteria that must be met for an aggregate of the input signals to trigger each artificial neuron. As depicted, the neural network configuration data 2371 may be incorporated into the parameter rules 2137/2537, and in this way, the various rules for at least interpreting sketch input (e.g., recognizing and/or interpreting text and/or visual tokens within the sketch input), would be encoded as the neural network configuration data 2371.

In some embodiments, the neural network configuration data 2371 may be used to configure the neural network 2571 to the extent deemed necessary to enable recognition and interpretation of text and/or various visual tokens within sketch input provided by a wide variety of individual operators of a source device 2100 via the sketch UI 2910. More precisely, the neural network configuration data 2371 may already include weight and/or bias values that may have been derived through a training process in which the neural network 2571 (or another neural network having a similar hyperparameter configuration) was trained with samples of sketch input from multiple individuals. However, in other embodiments, it may be deemed desirable to put the neural network 2571 into a training mode in which such parameters (e.g., the weight and/or bias values) may be further refined with training using sketch input samples provided by a particular operator of the source device 2100 to better enable recognition and interpretation of text and/or visual tokens within sketch input provided by that particular operator.

Turning more specifically to FIG. 23B, during such a training mode, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interaction component 2148 or 2548, respectively, to operate the display 2180 to visually guide the particular operator through using the stylus 2118 with at least the input device 2110 to provide sketch input for each of multiple visual tokens. More specifically, the operator may be shown a set 2911 of visual tokens where each may be highlighted, as depicted, one at a time to cause the operator to provide sketch input that includes the highlighted token. As the sketch input for each token is received, backpropagation and/or other training techniques may be used to cause the neural network 2571 to correlate each new sketch input with its corresponding token. Further, a similar approach may be used to guide the particular operator through providing sketch input for text characters (e.g., letters of an alphabet and/or individual numeric characters). Following the completion of such training, the now updated neural network configuration data 2371 for the particular operator may then be stored (e.g., within the storage 2160 of the source device or as a data object 2370 within a federated area 2566) to enable its future retrieval and use to configure the neural network 2571 when that particular operator is to provide sketch input.

Turning to FIGS. 23C-D, as depicted, the parameter rules 2137/2537 may also include the information required to generate visual representations of an entire set 2911 of visual tokens that make up a vocabulary of visual tokens that may be used to author the GUI instructions 2229 within a job flow definition 2220 as sketch input. Although such stored visual representations may not be used as inputs to any process for recognizing or interpreting visual tokens in sketch input, such stored visual representations may be used to provide visual feedback to an operator of the successful recognition of the visual tokens that are provided in their sketch input.

More precisely, and as depicted in FIG. 23C, at least initially, during use of the stylus 2118 with the co-located combination of the display 2180 and the input device 2110, the display 2180 may be operated by the processor 2150 or 2550 (as a result of executing the interaction component 2148 or 2548, respectively) to visually present what is being sketched by an operator by providing visual feedback of the paths along which the tip of the stylus 2118 is moved across portions of the display 2180 as each line of a sketch is drawn by the operator. In this way, the operator is provided with visual feedback acknowledging each line that the operator draws as the operator draws it. Additionally, as the tip of the stylus 2118 is so moved across portions of the display 2180, and as the path of those movements of the tip is being reflected on the display 2180, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interpretation component 2147 or 2547 to employ the neural network 2571 to repeatedly analyze the sketch input to recognize each text character and/or visual token present therein.

As depicted in FIG. 23C, in some embodiments, as enough of a visual token is drawn by an operator for it to be recognized in the sketch input, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused to retrieve the visual representation of the recognized token from the parameter rules 2137 or 2537, respectively, and may replace the portion of the sketch input associated with the recognized token with the retrieved visual representation. In this way, the operator is provided with visual feedback acknowledging each visual token that the operator sketches. Additionally, in some embodiments, the sketch UI 2910 may provide the operator with the ability to use the stylus 2118 or another input mechanism to provide an indication that a mistake has been made in recognizing a visual token, and the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interaction component 2148 or 2548, respectively, to display a set 2911 of other visual tokens (e.g., in a manner not unlike what is depicted in FIG. 23B) in a manner that allows the operator to select one of the other visual tokens as being the visual token that the operator intended to sketch. As part of responding to such an indication of such an error, the neural network 2571 may be momentarily placed in a training mode to make use of the corrective input to further refine its configuration parameters (e.g., weights and/or biases) to further improve its ability to recognize visual tokens.

Turning more specifically to FIG. 23D, among the visual tokens for which the parameter rules 2137/2537 may include visual representations, and which the neural network 2571 may be configured to recognize, may be multiple object tokens that are each associated with one or more of the objects that may be stored within a federated area 2566 and multiple action tokens that each represent an action to be performed. It should be noted that the set 2911 of visual tokens depicted in FIG. 23D is a representative example of a set of visual tokens, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the claims of the present application to any one particular set of visual tokens.

Among the object tokens are a process flow token 2921, a process flow list token 2922, a process flow diagram (PFD) token 2923, and a process flow properties token 2924, all of which are associated with job flow definitions 2220; a data object (DO) token 2931, a data object list token 2932, a data object download dialog (DWN) token 2935, and a data object upload dialog (UP) token 2936, all of which are associated with data objects 2330; a task routine token 2941, a task routine list token 2942, and a task routine diagram token 2943, all of which are associated with task routines 2440; a job flow instance token (JFI) 2971, a job flow instance list (JFI-LIST) token 2972, a job flow instance diagram token 2973, and a job flow instance properties (JFI-PP) token 2974, all of which are associated with instance logs 2770; a GUI page token 2912 associated with GUI pages of a job flow GUI 2919, and a web browser tab (TAB) token 2915 associated with tab-accessible pages of a web browser. Among the action tokens are a single left-click (CLICK) token 2951, a double left-click (2CLICK) token 2952, and a single right-click (RCLICK) token 2955, all of which are associated with input actions that may be performed by an operator with an input device of the job flow GUI 2919; and an object run (RUN) token 2961 and an object cancel (CANCEL) token 2962, both of which are associated with performing one or more operations associated with an object.

A job flow GUI 2919 that is provided due to the execution of GUI instructions 2229 incorporated into a job flow definition 2220 may be divided into multiple GUI pages. Each GUI page may be uniquely identified with a separate GUI page token 2912 that assigns each GUI page with a unique numerical identifier. More precisely, each GUI page token 2912 may be sketched to include one or more numerical characters and/or numerical notation characters (e.g., a comma or period serving as a decimal point) that specify the numerical identifier of the corresponding page, as depicted with the example GUI page identifier 2912 of FIG. 23C.

During the provision of a job flow GUI 2919, it may be that only one GUI page is displayed at a time, and the GUI instructions 2229 may define a set of transitions that may be made between specified pairs of the GUI pages in response to specified actions that may be taken by an operator through an input device that is used in providing the job flow GUI 2919. More precisely, a combination of a GUI page token 2912 and one of the action tokens 2951, 2952 and 2956 may be sketched in relatively close proximity to each other to indicate that a transition to the GUI page specified by the GUI page token 2912 is to occur in response to the action associated with the one of the action tokens 2951, 2952 or 2956. Alternatively or additionally, one or more GUI pages of the job flow GUI 2919 may be presented within a web browser (or other viewing and/or execution environment) that may provide the ability to allow more than one GUI pages to be generated and maintained simultaneously as separate web pages, with the ability provided to an operator to select which one(s) of the GUI pages (as web pages) are to be made visible by selecting one or more tabs from among a set of tabs provided by the web browser.

In some embodiments, the use of a web browser to present GUI pages of a job flow GUI 2919 as one or more web pages may be deemed desirable to provide access to various media playing routines and/or data visualization routines that may be callable through the use of various application programming interfaces (APIs). By way of example, where a data object includes motion video data, the media playing routines made available within the environment of a web browser may include a motion video playing routine compliant with one or more Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standards. Alternatively or additionally, the use of a web browser to present GUI pages of a job flow GUI 2919 as one or more web pages may be deemed desirable as a mechanism to enable viewing of the contents of one or more federated areas 2566 in embodiments in which the federated area identifiers 2568 employed to identify federated areas 2566 are URLs, as previously discussed.

What is to be displayed in a particular GUI page may be specified with one or more object tokens that are sketched to be in relatively close proximity to the GUI page token 2912 for that particular GUI page in the sketch input provided through the sketch UI 2910. Stated differently, it may be that portions of the sketch input that specify what is to be displayed on different GUI pages are required to be separated by a pre-selected minimum threshold amount of space so as to provide a clear contrast between amounts of space left between object tokens associated with the same GUI page and amounts of space left between object tokens associated with different GUI pages. In embodiments in which one or more GUI pages may be presented as web pages, what is to be displayed in a particular GUI page that is to be presented as a web page within a web browser may be specified either with one or more object tokens that are sketched to be in relatively close proximity to a web browser tab token 2915, in addition to being sketched in relatively close proximity to the GUI page token 2912 for that particular GUI page. Alternatively, the presentation of a web page may be made conditional on the detection of a performance of an action by interposing an action token (e.g., one of the action tokens 2951, 2952 or 2955) between (and in close proximity to both of) one or more object tokens that specify what is to be displayed within the web page and a web browser tab token 2915, as will shortly be demonstrated by example.

The inclusion of one of the object list tokens 2922, 2932, 2942 or 2972 in the sketch input in relatively close proximity to a GUI page token 2912 serves to specify that a list of the associated type of object present within one or more federated areas 2566 is to be displayed on the GUI page identified by the numeric identifier of that GUI page token 2912. More precisely, the data object list token 2932 specifies that a list of data sets 2330 and/or 2370 that are present within one or more federated areas 2566 is to be displayed on the associated GUI page. The data object list token 2932 may be accompanied by one or more action tokens in the sketch input that each serve to specify something further that is to be displayed on the same GUI page or something further that is to be displayed on a different GUI page in response to a particular action taken via an input device to select one of the data sets 2330 or 2370 presented in such a list. Correspondingly, the process flow list token 2922 specifies the display of a list of job flow definitions 2220 within a GUI page, the task routine list token 2942 specifies the display of a list of task routines 2440 within a GUI page, and the job flow instance list token 2972 specifies the display of a list of instance logs 2720.

In some embodiments, various limits of what objects are caused to be displayed as a result of the inclusion of one of the object list tokens 2922, 2932, 2942 or 2972 may be automatically imposed. By way of example, and as has been discussed above, what objects are available for use in a performance of a job flow 2200 may be constrained by what federated areas 2566 an operator and/or device under the control of an operator has been given authorization to have access to, and/or what relationships may be in place among those federated areas to which access is authorized. These same limitations may therefore apply to an associated job flow GUI 2919 that may be provided at the time the job flow 2200 is performed.

Alternatively or additionally, in some of such embodiments, various contextual limitations may also be imposed. By way of example, where a job flow GUI 2919 includes the display of a list of data objects from which one or more data sets 2330 and/or 2370 may be selected in support of the performance of the corresponding job flow 2200, the details of the interfaces for input data objects that are specified in the interface definitions 2224 within the corresponding job flow definition 2220 may be used to limit which data sets 2330 and/or 2370 are included within the list that is displayed. This may be deemed desirable to avoid including data sets 2330 and/or 2370 that cannot be used in a performance of the job flow 2200. Similar limitations may also be imposed where the job flow GUI 2919 includes the display of a list of task routines 2440 such that the task routines 2440 that are displayed in the list may be limited to those that perform one of the tasks specified in the job flow definition 2220. Also, similar limitations may also be imposed where the job flow GUI 2919 includes the display of a list of instance logs 2720 such that the instance logs 2720 that are displayed in the list may be limited to those that arose from past performances of the corresponding job flow 2200.

The inclusion of one of the object diagram tokens 2923, 2943 or 2973 in the sketch input in relatively close proximity to a GUI page token 2912 serves to specify that a diagram of the associated type of object selected from one or more federated areas 2566 is to be displayed on the GUI page identified by the numeric identifier of that GUI page token 2912. More precisely, the task routine diagram token 2943 specifies that a diagram of a task routine 2440 is to be displayed on the associated GUI page. In some embodiments, the diagram that may be caused to be displayed through use of any of the object diagram tokens 2923, 2943 or 2973 may be a DAG 2270. Thus, the inclusion of a task routine diagram token 2943 may specify the display a DAG 2270 of a single task routine 2440. Correspondingly, the inclusion of a process flow diagram token 2923 may specify the display of a DAG 2270 that includes all of the tasks specified within a job flow definition 2220 and/or a set of the most recent task routines 2440 available to perform each of those tasks, and the inclusion of a job flow instance diagram token 2793 may specify the display of a DAG 2270 that includes all of the specific task routines 2440 specified in an instance log.

The inclusion of one of the object properties tokens 2924 or 2974 in the sketch input in relatively close proximity to a GUI page token 2912 serves to specify that a display of various characteristics of the associated type of object selected from one or more federated areas 2566 are to be displayed on the GUI page identified by the numeric identifier of that GUI page token 2912. More precisely, the job flow instance properties token 2974 specifies that a diagram of an instance log 2720 that documents aspects of an earlier performance of a job flow 2200 defined by a specified job flow definition 2220 is to be displayed on the associated GUI page. Any of a variety of types of information concerning an instance log 2720 may be so displayed, including and not limited to, the date of the performance documented by the instance log 2720, the identifiers of objects specified by instance log 2720 as involved in that performance, and/or the identifier of federated area 2566 in which the instance log 2720 is stored. Correspondingly, the inclusion of the process flow properties token 2924 may specify that a display of various characteristics of a job flow definition 2220 are to be displayed on the GUI page identified by the numeric identifier of that GUI page token 2912. Any of a variety of types of information concerning an instance log 2720 may be so displayed, including and not limited to, the date on which the job flow definition was created and/or most recently modified, the flow task identifiers of the tasks specified as included in the corresponding job flow 2200, whether the job flow definition 2220 includes GUI instructions 2229, and/or whether the job flow identifier 2220 defines a job flow that employs a neural network that was trained using data and/or other objects associated with a different job flow 2200 that does not entail the use of a neural network.

FIG. 23E depicts the display of a visual representation of the job flow instance list (JFI-LIST) token 2972, which, as part of providing the sketch UI 2910, may be retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537 and displayed in place of the lines of sketch input in which this token was recognized as present. FIG. 23F depicts the display of a visual representation of the job flow instance properties (JFI-PP) token 2974, which may also be retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537 and displayed in place of the lines of sketch input in which this token was recognized as present. FIG. 23G depicts the display of a visual representation of the data object download dialog (DWN) token 2935, which may also be retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537 and displayed in place of the lines of sketch input in which this token was recognized as present.

FIGS. 24A, 24B, 24C, 24D and 24E, together, illustrate in greater detail an embodiment of using sketch input through the sketch UI 2910 in support of generating GUI instructions 2229 for inclusion in a job flow definition 2220 to provide a corresponding job flow GUI 2919. FIG. 24A illustrates an embodiment of using the neural network 2571 to recognize at an object token that may be entered as sketch input via the sketch UI 2910 to perform a command that it represents as part of obtaining needed information during development of GUI instructions 2229. FIGS. 24B-C illustrates an example of the entry and recognition of the object token that is provided through the sketch UI 2910. FIG. 24D illustrates an example of performing the command represented by the entered and recognized object token. FIG. 24E illustrates an example of further actions that may be taken in coordination with the performance of the command.

Turning to FIG. 24A, as previously discussed, a processor 2150 of a source device 2100 that executes the interaction component 2148 and the interpretation component 2147, or a processor 2550 of a federated device 2500 that executes the interaction component 2548 and the interpretation component 2547, may operate a combination of the input device 2110 and display 2180 of one of the source devices 2100 to provide the sketch UI 2910, and to at least recognize and/or interpret text and/or visual tokens. As also previously discussed, such operations may be performed by the processor 2150 or 2550 to refine the training of a neural network 2571 to better enable the recognition of text and/or visual tokens provided in sketch input by a particular operator of the source device 2100 as part of preparations for using the sketch UI 2910 to develop GUI instructions 2229.

With such preparatory operations having been performed, in some embodiments, the sketch UI 2910 may be utilized by an operator of the source device 2100 to enter at least object tokens as sketch input in a manner in which the commands they represent are immediately performed, as opposed to, being used to specify commands to be included within GUI instructions 2229. Such immediately performed commands may include the display of a list of objects within one or more federated areas 2566, the display of characteristics of a particular object, the display of a DAG 2270 of one or more particular objects, and/or the selection of one or more particular objects for editing.

More specifically, and as previously discussed, as such sketch input is received from the input device 2110, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interaction component 2148 or 2548, respectively, to operate the display 2180 (which may be co-located with the input device 2110) to, at least initially, display the lines that are drawn in the sketch input. As has also been discussed, as enough lines are drawn that a visual token is able to be recognized (e.g., by the neural network 2571), the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interpretation component 2147 or 2547, respectively, to operate the display 2180 to replace those lines with a visual representation of the recognized visual token to provide visual confirmation of its successful recognition. The operator of the source device 2100 may allow the visual representation of the recognized visual token to remain so displayed as part of incorporating the command that it represents into GUI instructions 2229, as will be explained later in greater detail. However, the operator may alternatively use the stylus 2118 and/or the input device 2110 to take any of a variety of actions that may provide an indication via the sketch UI 2910 that the visual representation that is now so displayed is of a visual token that represents a command that is to be performed immediately, and not incorporated into GUI instructions 2229. By way of example, such an action may be a double-tap with the tip of the stylus 2118 within the display area of the display 2180 that is occupied by the visual representation of the visual token, or may be drawing the object run token 2961 over that display area. The processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interpretation component 2147 or 2547, respectively, to recognize such an action and interpret it as such an indication. With such an indication to perform a command represented by a visual token, immediately, having been so recognized, the processor 2550 of one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to cooperate with the database component 2545 to retrieve the one or more objects within one or more federated areas 2566 that are needed to perform the command.

FIGS. 24B-D, together, provide an example of such provision, recognition and performance of such a command. As depicted in FIG. 24B, the stylus 2118 is used, along with the input device 2110 and/or the display 2180, to provide sketch input that includes a set of lines that convey a hand-drawn visual representation of the job flow instance list token 2972. As previously discussed, as those lines are sketched, they are visually presented on the display 2180 as visual confirmation of the sketching of those lines having been detected. However, as depicted in FIG. 24C, with enough of those lines having been sketched as to enable the job flow instance list token 2972 to be recognized, those lines are replaced on the display 2180 with a visual representation of the job flow instance list token 2972 retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537, thereby providing visual confirmation to the operator of the recognition of the job flow instance list token 2972. With the retrieved visual representation of the job flow instance list token 2972 now displayed, the operator of the source device 2100 may use the stylus 2118 and/or the input device 2110 to provide an input indicating that the now recognized job flow instance list token 2972 represents a command that the operator wants to be performed, immediately, rather than to be used as a basis for the generation of GUI instructions 2229.

In response to the receipt of such input providing such an indication of an immediate performance of a command, the processor(s) 2550 of one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to cooperate with the database component 2545 to retrieve one or more objects within one or more federated areas 2566 that are needed to perform the command In this example, since the job flow instance list token 2972 represents a command to display a list of instance logs 2720, the one or more processors 2550 are caused to retrieve instance logs 2720 from the federated area(s) 2566 to enable a list 2917 of those instance logs 2720 to be displayed, as depicted in FIG. 24D. Again, the federated area(s) 2566 from which instance log(s) 2720 may be retrieved may be limited to those to which the operator and/or the device under the control of the operator has been given authorization to access. Alternatively or additionally, in some of such embodiments, various contextual limitations may also be imposed. By way of example, where the operator has already provided an indication of what particular job flow definition 2220 is associated with the GUI instructions 2229 that are to be generated through use of the sketch UI 2910, the list 2917 of instance logs 2720 that is then displayed may be limited to instance logs 2720 that document past performances of the job flow 2200 of that particular job flow definition 2220.

With the list 2917 of instance logs 2720 now displayed, as requested, the operator may use the stylus 2118 and/or the input device 2110 to take any of a variety of actions that may provide an indication via the sketch UI 2910 of a selection of a particular instance log 2720 from the displayed list 2917. In response to the receipt of such input providing an indication of such a selection, the processor(s) 2550 of one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by the selection component 2543 to cooperate with the database component 2545 to retrieve the selected instance log 2720, if it hasn't already been retrieved and retained such that retrieval from a federated area 2566 is not necessary. Following such retrieval, if needed, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interaction component 2148 or 2548, respectively, to display additional information concerning the selected instance log 2720. By way of example, and as depicted in FIG. 24E, such displayed additional information may include the display of at least a portion of a visualization 2980 of a DAG 2270 that depicts aspects of the past performance of the associated job flow 2200 that is documented by the instance log 2720.

FIG. 25 illustrates in greater detail an embodiment of generating GUI instructions 2229 for inclusion in a job flow definition 2220 based on sketch input provided through the sketch UI 2910. More specifically, FIG. 25 illustrates an embodiment of using the neural network 2571 to recognize visual tokens that may be entered as sketch input via the sketch UI 2910, and of interpreting the relative placement of recognized visual tokens within the sketch input to generate GUI instructions 2229.

As previously discussed, a processor 2150 of a source device 2100 that executes the interaction component 2148 and the interpretation component 2147, or a processor 2550 of a federated device 2500 that executes the interaction component 2548 and the interpretation component 2547, may operate a combination of the input device 2110 and display 2180 of one of the source devices 2100 to provide the sketch UI 2910, and to at least recognize and/or interpret text and/or visual tokens. As also previously discussed, in some embodiments, the sketch UI 2910 may be utilized by an operator of the source device 2100 to enter at least object tokens as sketch input in a manner in which the commands they represent are immediately performed, as opposed to, being used to specify commands to be included within GUI instructions 2229.

However, such sketch input may also be used as the basis for the generation of GUI instructions 2229. More specifically, and as previously discussed, as such sketch input is received from the input device 2110, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interaction component 2148 or 2548, respectively, to operate the display 2180 (which may be co-located with the input device 2110) to, at least initially, display the lines that are drawn in the sketch input. As has also been discussed, as enough lines are drawn that a visual token is able to be recognized (e.g., by the neural network 2571), the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interpretation component 2147 or 2547, respectively, to operate the display 2180 to replace those lines with a visual representation of the recognized visual token to provide visual confirmation of its successful recognition. The operator of the source device 2100 may continue to sketch more lines to thereby sketch more visual tokens that are, in turn, also recognized and similarly visually replaced with visual representations that similarly provide visual confirmation of successful recognition.

As previously discussed, the manner in which the sketched visual tokens are arranged into groups (i.e., their relative placement, including relative distances thereamong) may serve to provide an indication of which visual tokens are to be associated with each GUI page of the job flow GUI 2919 that is being defined through the sketch input. More precisely, and as previously discussed, the placement of each object token relative to different ones of multiple GUI page tokens 2912 may serve to indicate what commands of the resulting job flow GUI 2919 are to be performed on each GUI page thereof. The processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interpretation component 2147 or 2547, respectively, to recognize and interpret the relative placement (e.g., grouping) of the visual tokens within the sketch input to identify the GUI pages that are defined thereby, and to identify what visual tokens are associated with each GUI page to interpret what commands are to be performed when each GUI page is visually presented.

FIGS. 26A, 26B, 26C and 26D, together, provide an example of such recognition and interpretation of visual tokens (including their relative positioning) and of generating a portion of GUI instructions 2229 from such interpretation. As depicted in FIG. 26A, the stylus 2118 is used, along with the input device 2110 and/or the display 2180, to provide sketch input that includes a set of lines that convey a hand-drawn visual representation of a job flow instance list (JFI-LIST) token 2972 grouped with a hand-drawn visual representation of a GUI page token 2912 that includes a hand-drawn “1”, and separated by an amount of space from hand-drawn visual representations of both a process flow diagram (PFD) token 2923 and a job flow instance properties (JFI-PP) token 2974 grouped with a hand-drawn visual representation of a hand-drawn GUI page token 2912 that includes a hand-drawn numeral “2”. Additionally, a hand-drawn visual representation of the arrow-shape of a left-click token 2961 is drawn to emanate from the job flow instance list token 2972, and toward another hand-drawn representation of the GUI page token 2912 that includes another hand-drawn numeral “2”. As previously discussed, as those lines are sketched, they may be, at least initially, visually presented on the display 2180 as visual confirmation of the sketching of those lines having been successfully detected.

However, as depicted in FIG. 26B, with enough of those lines having been sketched as to enable each of these visual tokens 2912, 2923, 2952, 2972 and 2974 to be recognized, those lines may be replaced, a visual token at a time, on the display 2180 with a corresponding visual representation of each of those visual tokens retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537, thereby providing visual confirmation to the operator of the successful recognition of each of those visual tokens. Also, as enough of the lines representing each of the numeric characters “1” and “2” are drawn, the hand-drawn visual representations of each may also be replaced with, a character at a time, with visual representations thereof retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537. Again, such recognition of each visual token and of each text character may be performed using the neural network 2571.

Turning to FIG. 26C, with the retrieved visual representations of the visual tokens 2912, 2923, 2952, 2972 and 2974, and of the numeric characters “1” and “2” so displayed, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interpretation component 2147 or 2547, respectively, to interpret the relative spacing among those visual tokens to identify their grouping into two separate groups that each correspond to one of two GUI pages that have been designated as GUI page 1 and GUI page 2. In performing such interpretations, various rules regarding the interpretation of spacing among visual tokens may be retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537. Further interpretation of the numeric characters “1” and “2” may be performed to identify which of these two GUI pages is the one that is to be displayed first when the resulting job flow GUI 2919 is provided, where such a determination may be based on a rule retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537 that the GUI page given the lowest magnitude numeric designation is the GUI page that is to be displayed first.

Through such interpretation, the determination may be made that GUI page 1 is to be displayed first when the job flow GUI 2919 is provided, and that GUI page 1 is to include a command to display a list 2917 of instance logs 2720 in accordance with the job flow instance list (JFI-LIST) token 2972. With such interpretation of the content of GUI page 1 completed, the GUI instructions 2229 for the job flow GUI 2919 may be generated to include an instruction to instantiate GUI page 1 (e.g., the depicted code “page-1”) followed by an instruction to display the list 2917 of instance logs 2720 (e.g., the depicted code “jfi-list”).

Correspondingly, through such interpretation, the determination may be made that GUI page 2 is to include a command to display a DAG 2270 of a job flow 2200 in accordance with the process flow diagram (PFD) token 2923, and a command to display properties of an instance log 2720 in accordance with the job flow instance properties (JFI-PP) token 2974. With such interpretation of the content of GUI page 2 completed, the GUI instructions 2229 for the job flow GUI 2919 may be further generated to include an instruction to instantiate GUI page 2 (e.g., the depicted code “page-2”) followed by an instruction to display the DAG 2270 of a job flow 2200 (e.g., the depicted code “pfd”) and an instruction to display properties of an instance log 2720 (e.g., the depicted code “jfi-pp”).

Further, the determination may be made that, while the list 2917 of instance logs 2720 of GUI page 1 being displayed, monitoring should be performed for an instance of a selection of one of the instance logs 2720 within that list 2917 through use of a single left-click action. Still further, the determination may also be made that a transition to the display of GUI page 2 ought to be performed in response to the receipt of an indication of such a single left-click. With the completion of such interpretation of the action to monitor for during the display of GUI page 1, as well as the corresponding response thereto, the GUI instructions 2229 for the job flow GUI 2919 may be further generated to include an instruction to monitor for such a single left-click (e.g., the depicted code “click(page-1/jfi-list, page-2)”).

FIG. 26D illustrates an example of the provision of the job flow GUI 2919 that results from such GUI instructions 2229 during the performance of the corresponding job flow 2200 that is defined by the job flow definition 2220 into which the GUI instructions 2229 are incorporated. During performance of the job flow 2200, one or more processors 2550 of one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused by execution of the performance component 2544 to retrieve the GUI instructions 2229 from the corresponding job flow definition 2220. The processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 or a processor 2850 of a reviewing device 2800 may then be caused by the interaction component 2548 or 2848, respectively, to execute the GUI instructions 2229 to provide the job flow GUI 2919. As a result, the processor(s) 2550 of the one or more federated devices 2500 may be caused to retrieve multiple instance logs 2720 from one or more federated areas 2566 to enable the display of the list 2917 in GUI page 1 of instance logs 2720, as depicted. In response to the occurrence of a left-click action to select one of the instance logs 2720 from the list 2917 of GUI page 1, GUI page 2 may then be displayed. As depicted, GUI page 2 may include a DAG 2270 of the job flow 2200 defined by the job flow definition 2220 from which the GUI instructions 2229 were retrieved, along with text describing various aspects of the selected instance log 2720.

FIGS. 27A, 27B and 27C, together, provide another example of recognition and interpretation of visual tokens (including their relative positioning) and of generating a portion of GUI instructions 2229 from such interpretation. As depicted in FIG. 27A, the stylus 2118 is used, along with the input device 2110 and/or the display 2180, to provide sketch input that includes a set of lines that convey a hand-drawn visual representation of three data object (DO) tokens 2931 that are each grouped with a hand-drawn visual representation of a GUI page token 2912 that includes one each of a hand-drawn “2.1”, a hand-drawn “2.2” and a hand-drawn “2.3” with each of these grouped pairs of data object tokens 2931 and GUI page tokens 2912 separated by an amount of space from each other as an indication that the sketch defines the contents of three separate GUI pages 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, respectively. Also, hand-drawn to emanate to the right from the data object token 2931 associated with the hand-drawn “2.1”, the data object token 2931 associated with the hand-drawn “2.2” and the data object token 2931 associated with the hand-drawn “2.3” is a hand-drawn visual representation of a single right-click (RCLICK) token 2955 associated with GUI page 2.1, a hand-drawn visual representation of another single right-click token 2955 associated with GUI page 2.2, and a hand-drawn visual representation of a double left-click (2CLICK) token 2952 associated with GUI page 2.3, respectively. Further, to the right of the action token 2955 is a hand-drawn visual representation of a data object download dialog (DWN) token 2935 that is also associated with GUI page 2.1. Still further, to the right of each of the action tokens 2955 and 2952 is a corresponding hand-drawn visual representation of web browser tab (TAB) token 2915 associated with GUI page 2.2 and GUI page 2.3, respectively.

Turning to FIG. 27B, again, with enough lines having been sketched as to enable each of these above-described tokens to be recognized, those lines may be replaced, a visual token at a time, on the display 2180 with a corresponding visual representation of each of those visual tokens retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537, thereby providing visual confirmation to the operator of the successful recognition of each of those visual tokens. Also, as enough of the lines representing each of the numeric characters “1”, “2” and “3”, as well as the “.” character, among corresponding ones of the “2.1”, “2.2” and “2.3” are drawn, the hand-drawn visual representations of each character may also be replaced, a character at a time, with visual representations thereof retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537. Again, such recognition of each visual token and of each text character may be performed using the neural network 2571.

Turning to FIG. 27C, again, with the retrieved visual representations of the above-described visual tokens, and of the page identifiers “2.1”, “2.2” and “2.3” so displayed, the processor 2150 or 2550 may be caused by the interpretation component 2147 or 2547, respectively, to interpret the relative spacing among those visual tokens to identify their grouping into three separate groups that each correspond to one of three GUI pages that have been designated as GUI page 2.1, GUI page 2.2 and GUI page 2.3. Further interpretation of the numeric identifiers “2.1”, “2.2” and “2.3” may be performed to identify which of multiple GUI pages is the one that is to be displayed first when the resulting job flow GUI 2919 is provided, and again, such a determination may be based on a rule retrieved from the parameter rules 2137/2537 that the GUI page given the lowest magnitude numeric designation is the GUI page that is to be displayed first. In this depicted example, there may be other sketch input that defines the contents of a GUI page 1 that may be determined to be the first GUI page to be displayed. It may be that such a GUI page 1 includes one or more action tokens corresponding to one or more different actions that may be taken by an operator by which one of the GUI pages 2.1, 2.2 or 2.3 is subsequently caused to be displayed in place of such a GUI page 1.

With such interpretation to identify the separate GUI pages and their order of presentation so completed, further interpretation may be performed to determine what is to be displayed within each GUI page, and to generate the GUI instructions 2229 for the job flow GUI 2919 to include instructions to instantiate at least each of the GUI pages 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. More specifically, through such interpretation, the determination may be made that GUI page 2.1 is to include the display of a data object that is stored within a federated area 2566 as a file with a “.sas7” file extension, and that GUI page 2.1 is to then include the display of a download dialog box for the downloading of that data object in response to the detection of a right-click action by an operator. As a result, an instruction to instantiate GUI page 2.1 with such contents (e.g., the depicted code “rclick(page-2.1/pfd/do(.sas7bdat), dwn)”) may be included in the GUI instructions 2229. Correspondingly, the determination may be made that GUI page 2.2 is to include the display of a data object that is stored within a federated area 2566 as a file with a “.log” file extension, and that GUI page 2.2 is to then to become a display of a web page with its own tab within a web browser in which the data object may be displayed in response to the detection of a right-click action by an operator. As a result, an instruction to instantiate GUI page 2.2 with such contents (e.g., the depicted code (“rclick(page-2.2/pfd/do(.log), tab) may be included in the GUI instructions 2229. Also, correspondingly, the determination may be made that GUI page 2.3 is to include the display of another data object that is stored within a federated area 2566 as a file with a “.log” file extension, and that GUI page 2.3 is to then to become a display of a web page with its own tab within a web browser in which the data object may be displayed in response to the detection of double left-click action by an operator. As a result, an instruction to instantiate GUI page 2.3 with such contents (e.g., the depicted code (“rclick(page-2.3/pfd/do(.log), tab) may be included in the GUI instructions 2229.

FIG. 28 illustrates an example embodiment of a logic flow 3100. The logic flow 3100 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3100 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3110, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the source devices 2100, or one of the reviewing devices 2800, via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor for access to other devices via the network, to add a new federated area to be connected to a specified existing federated area. As has been discussed, such a portal may employ any of a variety of protocols and/or handshake mechanisms to enable the receipt of requests for various forms of access to the federated area by other devices, as well as to exchange objects with other devices, via the network.

At 3112, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of the specified federated area (as well as for any related base federated area and/or any related intervening federated area), and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. Again, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices and/or users from which such requests are received. If, at 3112, the processor determines that the request is not from an authorized device and/or is not from a person and/or entity authorized as a user with sufficient access to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device from which the request is received via the network at 3114.

However, if at 3112, the processor determines that the request is authorized, then at 3120, the processor may allocate storage space within the one or more federated devices, and/or within one or more storage devices under the control of the one or more federated devices, for the requested new federated area that is connected to (e.g., branches from) the specified existing federated area.

At 3130, the processor may add an indication of the creation of the requested new federate area, as well as the manner in which the requested new federated area is connected to the specified existing federated area to a federated area database that may store indications of the existence of each federated area, which users and/or devices are granted access to each, and/or how each federated area may be connected or otherwise related to one or more others (e.g., within the portal data 2539 and/or the federated area parameters 2536).

At 3132, the processor may add an indication to such a database of an inheritance relationship among the new federated area, the specified existing federated area, any base federated area to which the specified existing federated area is related, and any intervening federated area present between the specified existing federated area and the base federated area. As has been discussed, with such an inheritance relationship in place, any object stored within any base federated area to which the specified existing federated area may be related, within the specified existing federated, and/or within any intervening federated area that may be present between the specified existing federated area and such a base federated area may become accessible from within the new federated area as if stored within the new federated area.

At 3134, the processor may add an indication to such a database of a priority relationship among the new federated area, the specified existing federated area, any base federated area to which the specified existing federated area is related, and any intervening federated area present between the specified existing federated area and the base federated area. As has been discussed, with such a priority relationship in place, the use of objects stored within the new federated area is given priority over the use of similar objects (e.g., other task routines 2440 that perform the same task) that may be stored within any base federated area to which the specified existing federated area may be related, within the specified existing federated, and/or within any intervening federated area that may be present between the specified existing federated area and such a base federated area.

At 3140, the processor may check whether there is at least one other existing federated area that is connected to the requested new federated area within a set of related federated areas such that it is to have at least an inheritance relationship with the requested new federated area such that it is to inherit objects from the requested new federated area. As has been discussed, this may occur where the requested new federated area is requested to be instantiated at a position within a linear hierarchy or within a branch of a hierarchical tree such that it is interposed between two existing federated areas.

If, at 3140, there is such another federated area, then at 3142, the processor may add an indication to such a database of an inheritance relationship among the other existing federated area, the requested new federated area, the specified existing federated area, any base federated area to which the specified existing federated area and the other federated area are related, and any intervening federated area present between the specified existing federated area and the base federated area. In this way, any object stored within any base federated area, within the specified existing federated, within any intervening federated area that may be present between the specified existing federated area and such a base federated area, or within the requested new federated area may become accessible from within the other existing federated area as if stored within the other existing federated area.

At 3144, the processor may add an indication to such a database of a priority relationship among the other existing federated area, the requested new federated area, the specified existing federated area, any base federated area to which the specified existing federated area is related, and any intervening federated area present between the specified existing federated area and the base federated area. In this way, the use of objects stored within the other existing federated area is given priority over the use of similar objects (e.g., other task routines 2440 that perform the same task) that may be stored within the requested new federated area, any base federated area to which the specified existing federated area may be related, within the specified existing federated, and/or within any intervening federated area that may be present between the specified existing federated area and such a base federated area.

FIGS. 29A, 29B, 29C, 29D, 29E and 29F, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 3200. The logic flow 3200 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3200 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3210, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the source devices 2100, or one of the reviewing devices 2800, via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor for access to other devices via the network, to store one or more objects (e.g., one or more of the objects 2220, 2270, 2330, 2370, 2440, 2470, 2720 and/or 2770) within a specified federated area (e.g., one of the federated areas 2566). As has been discussed, such a portal may employ any of a variety of protocols and/or handshake mechanisms to enable the receipt of requests for various forms of access to a federated area by other devices, as well as to exchange objects with other devices, via the network.

At 3212, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of the specified federated area, and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. As has been discussed, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices from which requests are received. If, at 3212, the processor determines that the request is not from a device and/or user authorized to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device via the network at 3214.

However, if at 3212, the processor determines that the request to store one or more objects within the specified federated area is authorized, then at 3220, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more data sets (e.g., one or more of the data sets 2330 or 2370). If so, then the processor may generate and assign a data object identifier for each data set that is to be stored (e.g., one or more of the data object identifiers 3331) at 3222. At 3224, the processor may store each of the one or more data sets within the specified federated area.

At 3230, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more result reports (e.g., one or more of the result reports 2770). If so, then the processor may generate and assign a result report identifier for each result report that is to be stored (e.g., one or more of the result report identifiers 2771) at 3232. At 3234, the processor may store each of the one or more result reports within the specified federated area.

At 3240, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more task routines (e.g., one or more of the task routines 2440). If so, then the processor may generate and assign a task routine identifier for each task routine that is to be stored (e.g., one or more of the task routine identifiers 2441) at 3242. At 3244, the processor may store each of the one or more task routines within the specified federated area. At 3246, the processor may additionally check whether any of the task routines stored at 3244 have the same flow task identifier as another task routine that was already stored within the specified federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween), such that there is more than one task routine executable to perform the same task. If so, then at 3248 for each newly stored task routine that shares a flow task identifier with at least one other task routine already stored in the specified federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area), the processor may store an indication of there being multiple task routines with the same flow task identifier, along with an indication of which is the most recent of the task routines for that flow task identifier.

As has been discussed, in embodiments in which task routines are stored in a manner organized into a database or other data structure (e.g., the task routine database 2564 within one or more related federated areas) by which flow task identifiers may be employed as a mechanism to locate task routines, the storage of an indication of there being more than one task routine sharing the same flow task identifier may entail associating more than one task routine with the same flow task identifier so that a subsequent search for task routines using that flow task identifier will beget a result indicating that there is more than one. As has also been discussed, the manner in which one of multiple task routines sharing the same flow task identifier may be indicated as being the most current version may entail ordering the manner in which those task routines are listed within the database (or other data structure) to cause the most current one to be listed at a particular position within that order (e.g., listed first).

At 3250, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more macros (e.g., one or more of the macros 2470). If so, then at 3252, the processor may additionally check, for each macro, whether there is a corresponding task routine (or corresponding multiple versions of a task routine in embodiments in which a single macro may be based on multiple versions) stored within the specified federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween). If, at 3252, there are any macros requested to be stored for which there is a corresponding task routine (or corresponding multiple versions of a task routine) stored in the specified federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area), then for each such macro, the processor may assign the job flow identifier (e.g., one or more of the job flow identifiers 2221) of the corresponding task routine (or may assign job flow identifiers of each of the versions of a task routine) at 3254. At 3256, the processor may store each of such macros.

At 3260, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more job flow definitions (e.g., one or more of the job flow definitions 2220). If so, then at 3262, the processor may additionally check, for each job flow definition, whether that job flow definition defines a job flow that uses a neural network and was trained and/or tested using objects associated with another job flow (and/or performances thereof) that is defined to by its job flow definition to not use a neural network. As previously discussed, the preservation of such links between a neuromorphic job flow and an earlier non-neuromorphic job flow from which the neuromorphic job flow may be in some way derived may be of importance to ensuring accountability during a later evaluation of the neuromorphic job flow. For this reason, it may be deemed important to ensure that objects associated with the other non-neuromorphic job flow have already been stored in federated area(s) where they can be preserved for subsequent retrieval during such an evaluation of the neuromorphic job flow.

Presuming that there are no neuromorphic job flows requested to be stored that were derived from another non-neuromorphic job flow that is not already so stored, then at 3264, the processor may additionally check, for each job flow definition, whether there is at least one task routine stored within the specified federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween) for each task specified by a flow task identifier within the job flow definition. If, at 3264, there are any job flow definitions requested to be stored for which there is at least one task routine stored in the specified federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area) for each task, then for each of those job flow definitions where there is at least one stored task routine for each task, the processor may generate and assign a job flow identifier (e.g., one or more of the job flow identifiers 2221) at 3266. At 3268, the processor may store each of the one or more job flow definitions for which there was at least one task routine for each task.

At 3270, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more instance logs (e.g., one or more of the instance logs 2720). If so, then at 3272, the processor may additionally check, for each instance log, whether each object identified in the instance log by its identifier is stored within the specified federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween). If, at 3272, there are any instance logs requested to be stored for which each specified object is stored within the specified federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area), then for each instance log where each object specified therein is so stored, the processor may generate and assign an instance log identifier (e.g., one or more of the instance log identifiers 2721) at 3274. At 3276, the processor may store each of the one or more instance logs for which each specified object is so stored.

At 3280, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or DAGs (e.g., one or more of the job DAGs 2270). If so, then at 3282, the processor may additionally check, for each DAG, whether there is a corresponding task routine (or corresponding multiple versions of a task routine) for each task graph object (e.g., one of the task graph objects 2984) and whether there is a corresponding data object for each data graph object (e.g., each data graph object 2983 or 2987) stored within the specified federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween). If, at 3282, there are any of such DAGs to be stored in the specified federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area) for each task, then for each of such DAG, the processor may generate and assign a job flow identifier at 3284 in recognition of the possibility that such a DAG may be used as a new job flow definition. At 3286, the processor may store each of such DAGs.

FIGS. 30A and 30B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 3300. The logic flow 3300 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3300 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3310, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the source devices 2100, or one of the reviewing devices 2800, via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor for access to other devices via the network, to store a task routine (e.g., one of the task routines 2440) within a specified federated area (e.g., one of the federated areas 2566). Again, such a portal may be generated by the processor to employ any of a variety of protocols and/or handshake mechanisms to enable the receipt of requests for various forms of access to the federated area by other devices, as well as to exchange objects with other devices, via the network.

At 3312, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of the specified federated area, and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. As has been discussed, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices from which requests are received. If, at 3312, the processor determines that the request is not from a device and/or user authorized to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device via the network at 3314.

However, if at 3312, the processor determines that the request to store a task routine within the specified federated area is authorized, then at 3320, the processor may check whether the task routine has the same flow task identifier as any of the task routines already stored within the specified federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween), such that there is already stored one or more other task routines executable to perform the same task. If not at 3320, then the processor may generate and assign a task routine identifier for the task routine (e.g., one of the task routine identifiers 2441) at 3322. At 3324, the processor may store the task routines within the specified federated area in a manner that enables later retrieval of the task routine by either its identifier or by the flow task identifier of the task that it performs.

However, if at 3320, there is at least one other task routine with the same flow task identifier already stored within the specified federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area), then the processor may check at 3330 whether the input interfaces (e.g., data interfaces 2443 that receive data from data objects, and/or task interfaces 2444 that receive parameters from another task routine) are implemented in the task routine in a manner that is identical to those of the one or more task routines with the same flow task identifier that are already so stored. Alternatively, and as previously discussed, such a comparison may be made between the implementation of the input interfaces of the task routine and the specifications for the input interfaces within one or more job flow definitions that include the task performed by the task routine. If, at 3330, the input interfaces are not identical, then the processor may transmit a denial of the request to the device via the network at 3314.

However, if at 3330, the input interfaces are identical, then the processor may check at 3340 whether the output interfaces (e.g., data interfaces 2443 that output a data object, and/or task interfaces 2444 that output parameters to another task routine) are implemented in the task routine in a manner that is either identical to or a superset of those of the one or more task routines with the same flow task identifier that are already stored within the federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area). Alternatively, and as previously discussed, such a comparison may be made between the implementation of the output interfaces of the task routine and the specifications for the output interfaces within one or more job flow definitions that include the task performed by the task routine. If, at 3340, each of the output interfaces of the task routine are neither identical nor a superset, then the processor may transmit a denial of the request to the device via the network at 3314.

However, if at 3340, each of the output interfaces of the task routine is identical to or a superset of the corresponding output interface within other task routine(s) and/or job flow definitions already stored within the federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area), then the processor may generate and assign a task routine identifier for the task routine at 3342. At 3344, the processor may store the task routine within the specified federated area in a manner that enables later retrieval of the task routine by either its identifier or by the flow task identifier of the task that it performs. At 3346, the processor may also store an indication of there being multiple task routines with the same flow task identifier, along with an indication of which is the most recent of the task routines for that flow task identifier.

FIGS. 31A and 31B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 3400. The logic flow 3400 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3400 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3410, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the source devices 2100, or one of the reviewing devices 2800, via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor for access to other devices via the network, to store a job flow definition (e.g., one of the job flow definitions 2220) within a specified federated area (e.g., one of the federated areas 2566).

At 3412, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of the specified federated area, and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. As has been discussed, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices from which requests are received. If, at 3412, the processor determines that the request is not from a device and/or user authorized to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device via the network at 3414.

However, if at 3412, the processor determines that the request to store a job flow definition within the specified federated area is authorized, then at 3420, the processor may check whether the job flow of the job flow definition uses a neural network that was trained based on another job flow that does not use a neural network. If so, then at 3422, the processor may check whether at least the job flow definition of the other job flow is stored within the federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween), and if not, may then transmit an indication of denial of the request at 3414.

However, if at 3420, the processor determines that the job flow of the job flow definition does not use a neural network, or if at 3422, the processor determines that the other job flow definition is so stored, then at 3430, the processor may check whether there is at least one task routine stored within the federated area (or within any base federated area to which the specified federated area is related and/or within any intervening federated area interposed therebetween) for each task specified by a flow task identifier within the job flow definition. If, at 3430, there are no task routines stored within the federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area) for one or more of the tasks specified by the job flow, then the processor may transmit a denial of the request to the device via the network at 3414.

However, if at 3430, there is at least one task routine stored in the federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area) for each task specified in the job flow, then the processor may check whether the input interfaces (e.g., data interfaces 2443 that receive data from data objects, and/or task interfaces 2444 that receive parameters from another task routine) that are implemented in the task routines stored in the federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area) are identical to those specified in the job flow definition at 3440. If, at 3340, the input interfaces are not identical, then the processor may transmit a denial of the request to the device via the network at 3442.

However, if at 3440, the input interfaces are identical, then the processor may check at 3450 whether the output interfaces (e.g., data interfaces 2443 that output a data object, and/or task interfaces 2444 that output parameters to another task routine) that are implemented in the task routines that are already stored within the federated area (or within such a base or intervening federated area) are identical to or are supersets of those specified in the job flow definition. If, at 3450, an output interface of one or more of the task routines already so stored is neither identical nor a superset of a corresponding output interface specified in the job flow definition, then the processor may transmit a denial of the request to the source device via the network at 3442.

However, if at 3450, all of the output interfaces of all of the task routines already so stored are either identical to and/or are supersets of corresponding output interfaces specified in the job flow definitions, then the processor may generate and assign a job flow identifier for the task routine at 3452. At 3454, the processor may store the job flow within the specified federated area in a manner that enables later retrieval of the job flow by its identifier.

FIGS. 32A, 32B, 32C and 32D, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 3500. The logic flow 3500 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3500 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3510, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the source devices 2100, or one of the reviewing devices 2800, via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor, to delete one or more objects (e.g., one or more of the objects 2220, 2330, 2370, 2440, 2720 and/or 2770) within a specified federated area (e.g., one of the federated areas 2566).

At 3512, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of the specified federated area, as well as any federated area that may branch from the specified federated area, and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. As has been discussed, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices from which requests are received. If, at 3512, the processor determines that the request is not from a device and/or user authorized to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device via the network at 3514.

However, if at 3512, the processor determines that the request to delete one or more objects within the specified federated area is authorized, then at 3520, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more data sets (e.g., one or more of the data sets 2330 or 2370). If so, then the processor may delete the one or more data sets from the specified federated area at 3522. At 3524, the processor may additionally check whether there are any result reports or instance logs stored in the specified federated area (or within any federated area that branches from the specified federated area) that were generated in a past performance of a job flow in which any of the one or more deleted data sets were used. If so, then at 3526, the processor may delete such result report(s) and/or instance log(s) from the specified federated area and/or from one or more other federated areas that branch from the specified federated area.

As previously discussed, it may be deemed desirable for reasons of maintaining repeatability to avoid a situation in which there is an instance log that specifies one or more objects, such as data sets, as being associated with a performance of a job flow where the one or more objects are not present within any accessible federated area such that the performance of the job flow cannot be repeated. It is for this reason that the deletion of a data set from the specified federated area is only to be performed if a check can be made within federated areas that branch from the specified federated area for such objects as instance logs and/or result reports that have such a dependency on the data set to be deleted. And, it is for this reason that a request for such a deletion may not be deemed to be authorized unless received from a device and/or user that has authorization to access all of the federated areas that branch from the specified federated area.

At 3530, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more result reports (e.g., one or more of the result reports 2770). If so, then the processor may delete the one or more result reports from the specified federated area at 3532. At 3534, the processor may additionally check whether there are any instance logs stored in the specified federated area (or within any federated area that branches from the specified federated area) that were generated in a past performance of a job flow in which any of the one or more deleted result reports were generated. If so, then at 3536, the processor may delete such instance log(s) from the federated area and/or from the one or more other federated areas that branch from the specified federated area.

At 3540, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more task routines (e.g., one or more of the task routines 2440). If so, then the processor may delete the one or more task routines from the specified federated area at 3542. At 3544, the processor may additionally check whether there are any other task routines stored in the specified federated area (or within a federated area that branches from the specified federated area) that share the same flow task identifier(s) as any of the deleted task routines. If so, then at 3546, the processor may delete such task routine(s) from the specified federated area and/or from the one or more other federated areas that branch from the specified federated area. At 3550, the processor may additionally check whether there are any result reports or instance logs stored in the specified federated area (or within a federated area that branches from the specified federated area) that were generated in a past performance of a job flow in which any of the one or more deleted task routines were used. If so, then at 3552, the processor may delete such result report(s) and/or instance log(s) from the specified federated area and/or from the one or more other federated areas that branch from the specified federated area.

At 3560, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more job flow definitions (e.g., one or more of the job flow definitions 2220). If so, then at 3562, the processor may delete the one or more job flow definitions within the specified federated area. At 3564, the processor may additionally check whether there are any result reports or instance logs stored in the specified federated area (or within a federated area that branches from the specified federated area) that were generated in a past performance of a job flow defined by any of the one or more deleted job flow definitions. If so, then at 3566, the processor may delete such result report(s) and/or instance log(s) from the federated area and/or from the one or more other federated areas that branch from the specified federated area.

At 3570, the processor may check whether the one or more objects includes one or more instance logs (e.g., one or more of the instance logs 2720). If so, then at 3572, the processor may delete the one or more instance logs from the specified federated area.

FIGS. 33A and 33B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 3600. The logic flow 3600 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3600 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3610, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the reviewing devices 2800 via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor, to repeat a previous performance of a job flow that generated either a result report or an instance log (e.g., one of the result reports 2770 or one of the instance logs 2720) specified in the request (e.g., with a result report identifier 2771 or an instance log identifier 2721), or to provide the device with the objects (e.g., one or more of the objects 2220, 2330, 2370, 2440, 2720 and/or 2770) needed to enable the requesting device to do so. As previously discussed, persons and/or entities involved in peer reviewing and/or other forms of review of analyses may operate a device to make a request for one or more federated devices to repeat a performance of a job flow to verify an earlier performance, or may make a request for the objects needed to allow the persons and/or entities to independently repeat the performance.

At 3612, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of at least one federated area, and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. As has been discussed, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices from which requests are received. If, at 3612, the processor determines that the request is not from a device and/or user authorized to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device via the network at 3614.

However, if at 3612, the processor determines that the request either for a result report regenerated from a repeat performance of a job flow or for the objects needed from one or more federated areas to independently repeat the previous performance is authorized, then at 3620, if the a result report was specified for the previous performance in the request, instead of the instance log, then at 3622, the processor may the use the result report identifier provided in the request for the result report to retrieve the instance log for the previous performance.

At 3630, the processor may use the identifiers specified in the instance log for the objects associated with the previous performance to retrieve each of those objects. It should be noted that, as has been previously discussed, searches for objects to fulfill such a request received from a particular device may be limited to the one or more federated areas to which that requesting device and/or a user operating the requesting device has been granted access (e.g., a particular private or intervening federated area, as well as any base federated area and/or any other intervening federated area interposed therebetween). Therefore, the retrieval of objects needed to independently regenerate the result report may necessarily be limited to such authorized federated area(s).

At 3632, the processor may check whether the job flow relies on the use of a neural network that was trained using one or more performances of another job flow that does not relay on the use of a neural network. If so, then at 3634, the processor may use an identifier in either of the job flow definition or instance log retrieved for the previous performance that provides a link to the job flow definition or instance log of the other job flow to retrieve objects associated with the other job flow and/or one or more performances of the other job flow.

Regardless of whether the job flow of the previous performance referred to in the request relies on the use of a neural network, if, at 3640, the request was to provide the objects needed to enable an independent repeat of the previous performance of the job flow referred to in the request, then at 3642, the processor may transmit the retrieved objects associated with that previous performance to the requesting device to so enable such an independent repeat performance. As previously discussed, the regenerated result report may be compared at the requesting device to the result report that was previously generated during the previous performance to verify one or more aspects of the previous performance. However, if at 3640, the request received was not to so provide the retrieved objects, but instead, was for one or more federated devices to repeat the previous performance of the job flow, then the processor may employ the objects retrieved at 3630 to repeat the previous performance, and thereby regenerate the result report. As previously discussed, in some embodiments, including embodiments in which one or more of the data sets associated with the previous performance is relatively large in size, the processor of the federated device may cooperate with the processors of multiple other federated devices (e.g., operate as the federated device grid 1005) to portions of the repeat performance among multiple federate devices to be carried out at least partially in parallel. At 3652, the processor may compare the regenerated result report to the result report previously generated in the previous performance of the job flow. The processor may then transmit the results of that comparison to the requesting device at 3654.

However, if, at 3632, the job flow of the previous performance referred to in the request does rely on the use of a neural network, then, in addition to retrieving objects associated with the other job flow at 3634, the processor may check at 3660 whether the request was to provide the objects needed to enable an independent repeat of the previous performance. If so, then at 3662, the processor may transmit the retrieved objects associated with that other job flow to the requesting device to enable aspects of the other job flow and/or one or more performances thereof to also be evaluated. However, if at 3660, the request received was not to so provide the retrieved objects, but instead, was for one or more federated devices to repeat the previous performance of the job flow, then at 3670, the processor may employ the objects retrieved at 3634 to perform the other job flow, and do so with the data set(s) associated with the previous performance of the job flow referred to in the request. At 3672, the processor may compare the result report(s) generated by the performance of the other job flow to the corresponding result reports regenerated from the repetition at 3650 of the previous performance of the job flow referred to in the request. The processor may then transmit the results of that comparison to the requesting device at 3674.

FIGS. 34A and 34B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 3700. The logic flow 3700 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3700 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3710, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the reviewing devices 2800 via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor, to repeat a previous performance a job flow with one or more data sets (e.g. one or more of the data sets 2330) specified in the request by a job flow identifier and one or more data object identifiers (e.g., one of the job flow identifiers 2221, and one or more of the data object identifiers 2331). As previously discussed, persons and/or entities involved either in consuming results of analyses or in reviewing past performances of analyses may operate a device to make a request for one or more federated devices to repeat a performance of a job flow.

At 3712, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of at least one federated area, and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. As has been discussed, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices from which requests are received. If, at 3712, the processor determines that the request is not from a device and/or user authorized to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device via the network at 3714.

However, if at 3712, the processor determines that the request for a repeat of a performance of the specified job flow with the specified one or more data sets is authorized, then at 3720, the processor may the use the combination of the job flow identifier and the one or more data object identifiers to search within one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access for an instance log associated with a previous performance of the job flow with the one or more data sets.

It should be noted that, as has been previously discussed, searches for objects to fulfill such a request received from a particular device may be limited to the one or more federated areas to which that requesting device and/or a user operating the requesting device has been granted access (e.g., a particular private or intervening federated area, as well as any base federated area and/or any other intervening federated area interposed therebetween). Therefore, the retrieval of objects needed to repeat a previous performance of a job flow may necessarily be limited to such authorized federated area(s).

If, at 3730, the processor determines, as a result of the search at 3720, that there is no such instance log, then at 3732, the processor may retrieve the job flow definition specified by the job flow identifier provided in the request (e.g., one of the job flow definitions 2220) from the one or more federated areas for which authorization to access has been granted to the requesting device and/or the user of the requesting device. At 3734, the processor may then retrieve the most recent version of task routine for each task specified in the job flow definition by a flow task identifier (e.g., one or more of the task routines 2440, each specified by a flow task identifiers 2241) from the one or more federated areas to which access has been granted. At 3736, the processor may retrieve each of the one or more data sets specified by the one or more data object identifiers from the one or more federated areas to which access has been granted, and may then use the retrieved job flow definition, the retrieved newest versions of task routines, and the retrieved one or more data sets to perform the job flow as requested. At 3738, the processor may transmit the results of the performance to the requesting device. As an alternative to (or in addition to) performing the job flow with the most recent versions of the task routines, the processor may transmit an indication to the requesting device that no record has been found of a previous performance in the one or more federated areas to which access has been granted.

However, if at 3730, the processor successfully locates (during the search at 3720) such an instance log, then the processor may additionally determine at 3740 whether there is more than one such instance log, each of which is associated with a different performance of the job flow with the one or more data sets specified in the request. If, at 3740, only one such instance log was located during the search at 3720, then at 3750, the processor may then retrieve the versions specified in the instance log of each of the task routines specified in the job flow definition for each task by a flow task identifier from the one or more federated areas to which access has been granted. At 3752, the processor may retrieve each of the one or more data sets specified by the one or more data object identifiers from the one or more federated areas to which access has been granted, and may then use the retrieved job flow definition, the retrieved specified versions of task routines, and the retrieved one or more data sets to perform the job flow as requested. At 3754, the processor may additionally retrieve the result report generated in the previous performance of the job flow from the one or more federated areas to which access has been granted, and may compare the retrieved result report to the new result report generated in the new performance of the job flow at 3756. At 3758, the processor may transmit the results of the comparison of result reports to the requesting device, and may transmit the new result report, itself, to the requesting device at 3758.

However, if at 3740, there is more than one such instance log located found during the search at 3720, then the processor may transmit an indication of the available selection of the multiple previous performances that correspond to the multiple located instance logs to the requesting device at 3742 with a request that one of the multiple previous performances be selected as the one from which the instance log will be used. The processor may then await receipt of an indication of a selection of one of the multiple previous performances at 3744 before proceeding to retrieve specific versions of task routines at 3750.

FIGS. 35A and 35B, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 3800. The logic flow 3800 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 3800 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2550 in executing the control routine 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the federated devices 2500.

At 3810, a processor of a federated device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2550 of one of the federated devices 2500 of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a request from a device, via a network (e.g., one of the reviewing devices 2800 via the network 2999) and through a portal provided by the processor, to perform a job flow with one or more data sets (e.g. one or more of the data sets 2330) specified in the request by a job flow identifier and one or more data object identifiers (e.g., one of the job flow identifiers 2221, and one or more of the data object identifiers 2331).

At 3812, in embodiments in which the federated device(s) that provide federated area(s) also control access thereto, the processor may perform a check of whether the request is from an authorized device and/or from an authorized person or entity (e.g., scholastic, governmental or business entity) operating the device that is an authorized user of at least one federated area, and/or has been granted a level of access that includes the authorization to make such requests. As has been discussed, the processor may require the receipt of one or more security credentials from devices from which requests are received. If, at 3812, the processor determines that the request is not from a device and/or user authorized to make such a request, then the processor may transmit an indication of denial of the request to the device via the network at 3814.

However, if at 3812, the processor determines that the request for a performance of the specified job flow with the specified one or more data sets is authorized, then at 3820, the processor may the use the job flow identifier provided in the request to retrieve the corresponding job flow definition (e.g., one of the job flow definitions 2220) from within one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access. At 3822, the processor may then retrieve the most recent version of task routine for each task specified in the job flow definition by a flow task identifier (e.g., one or more of the task routines 1440, each specified by a flow task identifiers 1241) that is stored within the one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access.

It should be noted that, as has been previously discussed, searches for objects to fulfill such a request received from a particular device may be limited to the one or more federated areas to which that requesting device and/or a user operating the requesting device has been granted access (e.g., a particular private or intervening federated area, as well as any base federated area and/or any other intervening federated area interposed therebetween). Therefore, the retrieval of objects needed to perform a specified job flow may necessarily be limited to such authorized federated area(s).

At 3824, the processor may use the combination of the job flow identifier and the one or more data object identifiers to search for an instance log associated with a previous performance of the job flow with the one or more data sets within the one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access. If, at 3830, the processor determines (during the search at 3724) that there is no such instance log, then at 3832, the processor may retrieve each of the one or more data sets specified by the one or more data object identifiers from the one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access, and may then use the retrieved job flow definition, the retrieved newest versions of task routines, and the retrieved one or more data sets to perform the job flow as requested. At 3834, the processor may transmit the results of the performance to the requesting device.

However, if at 3830, the processor successfully locates such an instance log (during the search at 3724), then the processor may additionally determine at 3840 whether there is more than one such instance log, each of which is associated with a different performance of the job flow with the one or more data sets specified in the request. If only one such instance log is located at 3840, then at 3850, the processor may then retrieve the versions specified in the instance log of each of the task routines for each task specified in the job flow definition by a flow task identifier from the one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access. However, if at 3840, there is more than one such instance log located, then the processor may analyze the multiple instance logs to identify and select the instance log from among the multiple instance logs that is associated with the most recent performance of the job flow at 3842, before proceeding to retrieve specified versions task routines for each task of the job flow at 3850.

At 3852, for each task specified in the job flow definition, the processor may compare the retrieved version of the task routine identified in the instance log to the newest version stored within the one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access to determine whether each of the retrieved task routines is the newest version. At 3860, if each of the retrieved task routines is the newest version thereof, then there is no need to perform the job flow anew, as the most recent previous performance (or the only previous performance) already used the newest version of each task routine such that the result report generated is already the most up to date form of the result report, possible. Thus, at 3862, the processor may retrieve the result report of that previous performance using the result report identifier specified by the instance log from the one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access, and may then transmit the result report to the requesting device at 3734.

However, if at 3860, one or more of the task routines specified in the instance log and retrieved from the one or more federated areas to which the requesting device and/or a user of the requesting device has been granted access is not the newest version thereof, then at 3870, the processor may parse the job flow set forth in the job flow definition to identify the earliest task within the job flow at which the version of the task routine so retrieved is not the newest version. At 3872, starting at that earliest task, the processor may use the newest version of task routine for that task and for each later task in the job flow to perform that task and each of the later tasks, thereby taking advantage of the one or more earlier tasks of job flow at which the newest version of task routine was used in the most recent previous performance (or the only previous performance). The processor may then transmit the result report generated in such a partial performance of the job flow to the requesting device at 3834.

FIG. 36 illustrates an example embodiment of a logic flow 4100. The logic flow 4100 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 4100 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2150 or 2550 in executing the control routine 2140 or 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the source devices 2100 or federated devices 2500, respectively.

At 4110, a processor of a device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2150 or 2550 of one of the source devices 2100 or federated devices 2500, respectively, of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive a command from another device (e.g., one of the source devices 2100 receiving a command from the input device 2110, or a federated device 2500 receiving a command from a source device 2100 via the network 2999) to enter a training mode in which a neural network (e.g., the neural network 2571 that may be implemented using a neuromorphic device 2570) is trained to improve its ability to recognize visual tokens of a set of visual tokens that serve as a vocabulary thereof. At 4112, the device enters the training mode.

At 4120, the device receives sketch input provided through a sketch user interface (UI) that may be provided using a combination of a display an input device and/or a stylus that provides a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., the combination of the display 2180, the input device 2110 and/or the stylus 2118 providing the sketch UI 2910). The processor interprets sketch characteristics of the received sketch input (including the sketch characteristics of any visual token that may be included in the sketch input) relative to stored sketch characteristics of the set of visual tokens to identify a subset of the set of visual tokens (e.g., one or more visual tokens) that are most likely to correspond to the received sketch input. As has been discussed, such analysis and interpretation of the sketch input to identify visual tokens may be performed using a neural network. As familiar to those skilled in the art, a neural network may be configured to effectively perform numerous comparisons of characteristics of an input to a relatively large set of learned characteristics in parallel to determine what subset of the set of characteristics are at least partially matched by the contents of the input.

At 4122, the processor may cause the display to be used to display the subset of visual tokens, and arranged in an order of likelihood of matching the visual token included in the sketch input. At 4130, the device may receive an indication of a selection of a visual token from among the displayed subset, and may use the new association created between the sketch characteristics of the visual token included in the sketch input and the indication of which visual token of the displayed subset represents the correct interpretation to refine future interpretations of sketch characteristics. As will be familiar to those skilled in the art, where a neural network is used, backpropagation and/or other neural network training techniques may be employed to make use of such an association to refine weights and/or biases associated with one or more of the artificial neurons thereof to improve future recognition of visual tokens in future sketch input by the neural network.

At 4140, the processor may make a check of whether a command has yet been received to leave the training mode. If not, then the processor may await the receipt of more sketch input at 4120 with which to continue training. However, if such a command, or other indication of cessation of training mode has been received, then the processor may cause the device to exit the training mode at 4142.

FIGS. 37A, 37B, 37C and 37D, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 4200. The logic flow 4200 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 4200 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2150 or 2550 in executing the control routine 2140 or 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the source devices 2100 or federated devices 2500, respectively.

At 4210, a processor of a device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2150 or 2550 of one of the source devices 2100 or federated devices 2500, respectively, of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive sketch input provided through a sketch user interface (UI) that may be provided using a combination of a display an input device and/or a stylus that provides a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., the combination of the display 2180, the input device 2110 and/or the stylus 2118 providing the sketch UI 2910). As has been discussed, such a combination of display, input device and/or stylus may be locally located and directly coupled to the device, or may be remotely located such that the combination is indirectly communicated with through a network and another device (e.g., where a federated device 2500 communicates with the display 2180, the input device 2110 and/or the stylus 2118 of a source device 2100 remotely through the network 2999).

At 4212, the processor interprets sketch characteristics of the received sketch input (including the sketch characteristics of any visual token that may be included in the sketch input) relative to stored sketch characteristics of the set of visual tokens to identify a visual token that is most likely to correspond to the received sketch input. As has been discussed, such analysis and interpretation of the sketch input to identify visual tokens may be performed using a neural network. As familiar to those skilled in the art, a neural network may be configured to effectively perform numerous comparisons of characteristics of an input to a relatively large set of learned characteristics in parallel to determine what subset of the set of characteristics are at least partially matched by the contents of the input.

At 4214, the processor may make a determination as to whether or not a visual token is able to be identified to a predetermined degree of certainty. If so, then the processor may store an indication of the identity of the visual token in the sketch input at 4228.

However, if at 4214, the processor is not able to make such a determination, then at 4216, the processor may cause the display to be operated to present a subset of visual tokens that are deemed to be the most likely matches to any visual token that may be present in the sketch input, and arranged in an order of likelihood of matching such a visual token in the sketch input. If, at 4220, the device does not receive an indication of a selection of a visual token from among the displayed subset (e.g., receiving an indication that none in the subset are correct, or if a predetermined amount of time passes with no selection being indicated), the processor may cause the display to be operated to visually present the entire set of visual tokens that are present within the vocabulary of visual tokens that is in use at 4222. Upon receipt of an indication of a correct visual token being identified from the entire set at 4224 or upon receipt of an indication of a correct visual token being identified from the subset at 4220, then the processor may use the new association created between the sketch characteristics of the visual token included in the sketch input and the indication of which visual token represents the correct interpretation to refine future interpretations of sketch characteristics at 4226. As will be familiar to those skilled in the art, where a neural network is used, backpropagation and/or other neural network training techniques may be employed to make use of such an association to refine weights and/or biases associated with one or more of the artificial neurons thereof to improve future recognition of visual tokens in future sketch input by the neural network.

At 4230, the processor may check whether the identified visual token is an object token that includes text. If so, then at 4232, the processor may analyze sketch characteristics of the sketch input in the vicinity of the identified visual token to interpret the text. Since the text that may be included with an object token may specify an identifier of an object represented by that object token (e.g., a task routine identifier, a flow task identifier, a data object identifier, a job flow identifier, an instance log identifier, etc.), the processor may store an indication of the interpreted text as a limitation (or filter) of the variety of objects that may be represented by the identified object token at 4234. At 4236, the processor may further check whether the interpreted text is an identifier of the job flow that the GUI instructions are to be associated with, or an identifier of an instance log that documents a previous performance of the job flow that the GUI instructions are to be associated with. If so, then at 4238, the processor may store the job flow identifier, whether provided directly as the interpreted text, or as retrieved from an instance log that is identified by the interpreted text.

At 4240, the processor may check whether the identified visual token is a GUI page token, or is accompanied by, a GUI page token. If so, then at 4242, the processor may analyze sketch characteristics of the sketch input in the vicinity of the identified GUI page token to interpret the text. At 4244, the processor may store an indication of the identified GUI page, along with indications of which object tokens that have been identified so far are grouped with the GUI page token that identifies that GUI page.

At 4250, the processor may check whether the identified visual token is an action token that is accompanied by a page identifier of a GUI page that is to be transitioned to if the action represented by the action token occurs. If so, then at 4252, the processor may analyze sketch characteristics of the sketch input in the vicinity of the identified action token to interpret the text. At 4254, the processor may store an indication of the identified GUI page, along with indications which action is to cause a transition to that GUI page, and an indication of which object token that the action token indicates a transition from in transitioning to the identified GUI page.

At 4260, the processor may cause the operation of the display to replace the sketch lines of the sketch input that were interpreted to identify the visual token with a representation of the identified visual token retrieved from a set of visual representations of visual tokens. In so doing, the processor may also include visual representations of any text that has been identified as included with the identified visual token.

At 4270, the processor may check whether a command has yet been received to generate GUI instructions from the visual tokens that have been recognized and interpreted so far. If not, then the processor may return to awaiting more sketch input at 4210.

However, if at 4270, such a command has been received, then the processor may check at 4272 whether the identifier of the job flow with which the job flow GUI is to be associated has yet been received or derived from text included with one or more identified visual tokens. If not, then the processor may cause the display to be operated to present a request for the job flow to be identified. Upon receiving the identifier of the job flow at 4276, the processor may store an indication of the identity of the job flow at 4278.

Regardless of the manner in which the identity of the job flow has been provided or otherwise derived, at 4280, the processor may, for each GUI page, generate a portion of code of the GUI instructions that includes executable code to cause the generation of the GUI page to include the visual presentations specified by the commands represented by each of the object tokens associated with the GUI page when the GUI instructions are executed. At 4282, the processor may, for each GUI page, generate a portion of code of the GUI instructions that includes executable code to cause the performance of a transition to another GUI page to be performed in response to an occurrence of the action represented by each action token associated with the GUI page. At 4284, the processor may, for each GUI page, generate a portion of code of the GUI instructions that includes executable code to cause either the performance or cessation of performance of the job flow and/or of a task as specified by any action token that may be associated with the GUI page that represents a run or cancel command.

At 4290, the processor may augment the job flow definition associated with the job flow to include the GUI instructions.

FIGS. 38A, 38B and 38C, together, illustrate an example embodiment of a logic flow 4300. The logic flow 4300 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. More specifically, the logic flow 4300 may illustrate operations performed by the processor(s) 2150 or 2550 in executing the control routine 2140 or 2540, and/or performed by other component(s) of at least one of the source devices 2100 or federated devices 2500, respectively.

At 4310, a processor of a device of a distributed processing system (e.g., at least one processor 2150 or 2550 of one of the source devices 2100 or federated devices 2500, respectively, of the distributed processing system 2000) may receive sketch input provided through a sketch user interface (UI) that may be provided using a combination of a display an input device and/or a stylus that provides a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., the combination of the display 2180, the input device 2110 and/or the stylus 2118 providing the sketch UI 2910). As has been discussed, such a combination of display, input device and/or stylus may be locally located and directly coupled to the device, or may be remotely located such that the combination is indirectly communicated with through a network and another device (e.g., where a federated device 2500 communicates with the display 2180, the input device 2110 and/or the stylus 2118 of a source device 2100 remotely through the network 2999).

At 4312, the processor interprets sketch characteristics of the received sketch input (including the sketch characteristics of any visual token that may be included in the sketch input) relative to stored sketch characteristics of the set of visual tokens to determine whether the sketch input includes an indication of a command to perform an action indicated by a visual token that has already been identified. As has been discussed, various types of input may provide an indication that a previously sketched and recognized visual token represents a command that is to be performed immediately (e.g., a double-tap with the stylus 2118 in the vicinity of the previously identified visual token on the display 2180), rather than used as a basis for generating GUI instructions.

If, at 4314, the sketch input does not include such an indication of such a command, then at 4320, the processor interprets sketch characteristics of the received sketch input (including the sketch characteristics of any visual token that may be included in the sketch input) relative to stored sketch characteristics of the set of visual tokens to identify a visual token that is most likely to correspond to the received sketch input. As has been discussed, such analysis and interpretation of the sketch input to identify visual tokens may be performed using a neural network. As familiar to those skilled in the art, a neural network may be configured to effectively perform numerous comparisons of characteristics of an input to a relatively large set of learned characteristics in parallel to determine what subset of the set of characteristics are at least partially matched by the contents of the input. At 4322, the processor may further interpret any text included with the identified visual token to identify any GUI page identifiers, indications of limitations of the variety of objects that the identified visual token may represent, any identifier of the job flow that is to correspond to the GUI instructions being generated, or any identifier of an instance log that documents a previous performance of that job flow. At 4324, the processor may store an indication of the identity of the visual token along with any GUI page, limitation concerning objects that may be represented by the visual token, and/or any job flow identifier. At 4326, the processor may cause the operation of the display to replace the sketch lines of the sketch input that were interpreted to identify the visual token with a representation of the identified visual token retrieved from a set of visual representations of visual tokens. In so doing, the processor may also include visual representations of any text that has been identified as included with the identified visual token.

At 4328, the processor may check whether a command has yet been received to generate GUI instructions from the visual tokens that have been recognized and interpreted so far. If not, then the processor may return to awaiting more sketch input at 4310. However, if at 4328, such a command has been received, then the processor may so generate the GUI instructions, and then augment the job flow definition of the job flow associated with the GUI instructions to include the GUI instructions at 4332.

However, if at 4314, the processor determines that the sketch input does include an indication of a command to immediately perform the action indicated by a previously identified visual token, then at 4340, the processor may retrieve an indication of the identity of the identified visual token associated with the command, along with the results of interpreting any text included with the identified visual token.

At 4350, the processor may check whether the identified visual token specifies the display of a list of objects of a particular type. If so, then at 4352, the processor may retrieve the requisite objects and cause the display to be operated to so display the list. In so doing, the processor may limit the objects so displayed to the type of object associated with the identified visual token and to the objects that are available in view of what federated areas are currently authorized to be accessed.

At 4360, the processor may check whether the identified visual token specifies the display of a DAG of a specific object or specific set of objects. If so, then at 4362, the processor may retrieve the requisite objects and cause the display to be operated to so display the DAG.

At 4370, the processor may check whether the identified visual token specifies the display of a properties of a specific object or specific set of objects. If so, then at 4372, the processor may retrieve the requisite objects and cause the display to be operated to so display such properties. At 4372, if what is displayed are details of multiple objects, and there are differences in those details, then the differences may be displayed in a side-by-side comparison manner at 4374. Otherwise, the details may simply be displayed without such a comparison format at 4376.

However, if at 4280, the identified visual token has proven be of none of the types checked for at 4350, 4360 or 4370, then the processor may cause the display to be operated to present an indication of an error in sketch input.

In various embodiments, each of the processors 2150, 2550 and 2850 may include any of a wide variety of commercially available processors. Further, one or more of these processors may include multiple processors, a multi-threaded processor, a multi-core processor (whether the multiple cores coexist on the same or separate dies), and/or a multi-processor architecture of some other variety by which multiple physically separate processors are linked.

However, in a specific embodiment, the processor 2550 of each of the one or more federated devices 1500 may be selected to efficiently perform the analysis of multiple instances of job flows at least partially in parallel. By way of example, the processor 2550 may incorporate a single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD) architecture, may incorporate multiple processing pipelines, and/or may incorporate the ability to support multiple simultaneous threads of execution per processing pipeline. Alternatively or additionally by way of example, the processor 1550 may incorporate multi-threaded capabilities and/or multiple processor cores to enable parallel performances of the tasks of more than job flow.

In various embodiments, each of the control routines 2140, 2540 and 2840, including the components of which each is composed, may be selected to be operative on whatever type of processor or processors that are selected to implement applicable ones of the processors 2150, 2550 and/or 2850 within each one of the devices 2100, 2500 and/or 2800, respectively. In various embodiments, each of these routines may include one or more of an operating system, device drivers and/or application-level routines (e.g., so-called “software suites” provided on disc media, “applets” obtained from a remote server, etc.). Where an operating system is included, the operating system may be any of a variety of available operating systems appropriate for the processors 2150, 2550 and/or 2850. Where one or more device drivers are included, those device drivers may provide support for any of a variety of other components, whether hardware or software components, of the devices 2100, 2500 and/or 2800.

In various embodiments, each of the storages 2160, 2560 and 2860 may be based on any of a wide variety of information storage technologies, including volatile technologies requiring the uninterrupted provision of electric power, and/or including technologies entailing the use of machine-readable storage media that may or may not be removable. Thus, each of these storages may include any of a wide variety of types (or combination of types) of storage device, including without limitation, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDR-DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory (e.g., ferroelectric polymer memory), ovonic memory, phase change or ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or optical cards, one or more individual ferromagnetic disk drives, non-volatile storage class memory, or a plurality of storage devices organized into one or more arrays (e.g., multiple ferromagnetic disk drives organized into a Redundant Array of Independent Disks array, or RAID array). It should be noted that although each of these storages is depicted as a single block, one or more of these may include multiple storage devices that may be based on differing storage technologies. Thus, for example, one or more of each of these depicted storages may represent a combination of an optical drive or flash memory card reader by which programs and/or data may be stored and conveyed on some form of machine-readable storage media, a ferromagnetic disk drive to store programs and/or data locally for a relatively extended period, and one or more volatile solid state memory devices enabling relatively quick access to programs and/or data (e.g., SRAM or DRAM). It should also be noted that each of these storages may be made up of multiple storage components based on identical storage technology, but which may be maintained separately as a result of specialization in use (e.g., some DRAM devices employed as a main storage while other DRAM devices employed as a distinct frame buffer of a graphics controller).

However, in a specific embodiment, the storage 2560 in embodiments in which the one or more of the federated devices 2500 provide federated spaces 2566, or the storage devices 2600 in embodiments in which the one or more storage devices 2600 provide federated spaces 2566, may be implemented with a redundant array of independent discs (RAID) of a RAID level selected to provide fault tolerance to objects stored within the federated spaces 2566.

In various embodiments, each of the input devices 2110 and 2810 may each be any of a variety of types of input device that may each employ any of a wide variety of input detection and/or reception technologies. Examples of such input devices include, and are not limited to, microphones, remote controls, stylus pens, card readers, finger print readers, virtual reality interaction gloves, graphical input tablets, joysticks, keyboards, retina scanners, the touch input components of touch screens, trackballs, environmental sensors, and/or either cameras or camera arrays to monitor movement of persons to accept commands and/or data provided by those persons via gestures and/or facial expressions.

In various embodiments, each of the displays 2180 and 2880 may each be any of a variety of types of display device that may each employ any of a wide variety of visual presentation technologies. Examples of such a display device includes, and is not limited to, a cathode-ray tube (CRT), an electroluminescent (EL) panel, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a gas plasma display, etc. In some embodiments, the displays 2180 and/or 2880 may each be a touchscreen display such that the input devices 2110 and/or 2810, respectively, may be incorporated therein as touch-sensitive components thereof.

In various embodiments, each of the network interfaces 2190, 2590 and 2890 may employ any of a wide variety of communications technologies enabling these devices to be coupled to other devices as has been described. Each of these interfaces includes circuitry providing at least some of the requisite functionality to enable such coupling. However, each of these interfaces may also be at least partially implemented with sequences of instructions executed by corresponding ones of the processors (e.g., to implement a protocol stack or other features). Where electrically and/or optically conductive cabling is employed, these interfaces may employ timings and/or protocols conforming to any of a variety of industry standards, including without limitation, RS-232C, RS-422, USB, Ethernet (IEEE-802.3) or IEEE-1394. Where the use of wireless transmissions is entailed, these interfaces may employ timings and/or protocols conforming to any of a variety of industry standards, including without limitation, IEEE 802.11a, 802.11ad, 802.11ah, 802.11ax, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.16, 802.20 (commonly referred to as “Mobile Broadband Wireless Access”); Bluetooth; ZigBee; or a cellular radiotelephone service such as GSM with General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS), CDMA/1×RTT, Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE), Evolution Data Only/Optimized (EV-DO), Evolution For Data and Voice (EV-DV), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), 4G LTE, etc.

However, in a specific embodiment, one or more of the network interfaces 2190, 2590 and/or 2890 may be implemented with multiple copper-based or fiber-optic based network interface ports to provide redundant and/or parallel pathways in exchanging one or more of the data sets 2330 and/or 2370.

In various embodiments, the division of processing and/or storage resources among the federated devices 1500, and/or the API architectures employed to support communications between the federated devices and other devices may be configured to and/or selected to conform to any of a variety of standards for distributed processing, including without limitation, IEEE P2413, AllJoyn, IoTivity, etc. By way of example, a subset of API and/or other architectural features of one or more of such standards may be employed to implement the relatively minimal degree of coordination described herein to provide greater efficiency in parallelizing processing of data, while minimizing exchanges of coordinating information that may lead to undesired instances of serialization among processes. However, it should be noted that the parallelization of storage, retrieval and/or processing of portions of the data sets 2330 and/or 2370 are not dependent on, nor constrained by, existing API architectures and/or supporting communications protocols. More broadly, there is nothing in the manner in which the data sets 2330 and/or 2370 may be organized in storage, transmission and/or distribution via the network 2999 that is bound to existing API architectures or protocols.

Some systems may use Hadoop®, an open-source framework for storing and analyzing big data in a distributed computing environment. Some systems may use cloud computing, which can enable ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Some grid systems may be implemented as a multi-node Hadoop® cluster, as understood by a person of skill in the art. Apache™ Hadoop® is an open-source software framework for distributed computing. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising a processor and a storage to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: receive first sketch input from an input device comprising a sketch of a first visual token of a set of visual tokens, wherein the first visual token is descriptive of a graphical user interface (GUI) and is interpretable to provide first GUI instructions to be executed to provide the GUI during a performance of a job flow; employ a neural network to interpret sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify, from among the set of visual tokens, a first visual token represented by the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network is trained to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input to at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; the set of visual tokens comprises at least one object token that represents either a command to display details of an object of a set of objects on a specified page of the GUI, or a command to display a list of objects within the set of objects on a specified page of the GUI; the set of objects comprises a job flow definition that defines the job flow, at least one task routine that is executed during a performance of the job flow, and at least one data object; and the set of objects is stored within at least one federated area maintained within one or more storage devices, and to which access is authorized during the performance of the job flow; and in response to the identification, by the neural network, of the first visual token as a first object token within the set of visual tokens, perform operations comprising: generate first GUI instructions to perform a command correlated by the neural network to the first object token; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command is to be performed in providing the GUI as part of performing the job flow; in response to identification, by the neural network, of text that specifies the page, incorporate an indication of the page as associated with the first object token into the first GUI instructions; augment the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and store the job flow definition, following augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions, within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the job flow definition with the first GUI instructions in support of the performance of the job flow and the provision of the GUI.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: a display to visually present the first sketch input is co-located with the input device; and the processor is caused to perform operations comprising: visually present portions of a first sketch based on the first sketch input at a first location on the display as corresponding portions of the first sketch input are received from the input device to provide visual feedback of the first sketch input to an operator as the operator provides the first sketch input to the input device; and following identification of at least the first visual token by the neural network, cease the visual presentation of the first sketch on the display, and visually present a graphical rendering of the first visual token in place of the first sketch at the first location to provide a visual indication to the operator of successful identification of the first visual token.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is caused to perform operations including: place the neural network into a training mode to refine the training of the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input of a selected operator to the at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; receive second sketch input that originates from the selected operator; train the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of the second sketch input to a selected second visual token of the set of visual tokens; and store, after completion of the training mode, neural network configuration data that defines the neural network within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the neural network configuration data in support of employing the neural network to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network configuration data specifies a hyperparameter comprising at least one of a quantity of artificial neurons within the neural network or a quantity of rows of the artificial neurons into which the artificial neurons are organized within the neural network; and the neural network configuration data also specifies a trained parameter comprising at least one of weight values of the artificial neurons, bias values of the artificial neurons or firing patterns of the artificial neurons.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein: the input device captures the entry of the first sketch input as an image of the first sketch input; the processor is caused to provide the image of the first sketch input as an input to the neural network; and the neural network comprises a convolution neural network that employs visual recognition to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein: the input device comprises a pressure sensor to detect an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input, or a touch sensor to detect a location of a tip of a stylus or a tip of a digit of an operator during entry of the first sketch input; and the characteristics of the first sketch input comprise at least one of: an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a pattern of change in the amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a velocity of movement of a point of contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input; an angle of a change in direction of movement of the point of contact during entry of the first sketch input; or a break in contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to a lack of identification of text that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command represented by the first object token is to be performed, perform operations comprising: identify, on a display that is co-located with the input device, a second object token that is visually presented at a second location on the display closest to a first location at which the first object token is visually presented, and that is associated with a page of the GUI on which a command represented by the second object token is to be performed; and incorporate, into the first GUI instructions, an indication that the page that is associated with the second object token is also associated with the first object token.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, perform operations comprising: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the sketch input that identifies the job flow definition or that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition; in response to identification of text that identifies the job flow definition, retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and in response to identification of text that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition, perform operations comprising: retrieve the instance log from a federated area of the one or more federated areas; retrieve an identifier of the job flow definition from the instance log; and retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display details of a specific object, perform operations comprising: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the specific object; and in response to identification of text that identifies the specific object, incorporate an indication of the specific object into the first GUI instructions prior to the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display a list of objects, perform operations comprising: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list; and in response to identification of text that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list, incorporate an indication of the identity of the objects to be displayed in the list or the criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list into the first GUI instructions prior to augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the set of visual tokens comprises at least one action token that represents either a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of a specified input, or a command to perform an action defined by an object of the set of objects in response to receipt of specified input; and the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as a first action token that represents a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of at least one specified input, perform operations comprising: generate second GUI instructions to perform the command represented by the first action token; identify an object token that is at least partially overlain by the first action token on a display that is co-located with the input device and that visually presents the first sketch input; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of a page of the GUI that is associated with the overlain object token as a page of the two specified pages that is jumped from; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies another page of the two specified pages that is jumped to; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of the page that is jumped to; and augment the job flow definition that defines the job flow to include the second GUI instructions.
 11. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the computer-program product including instructions operable to cause a processor to perform operations comprising: receive first sketch input from an input device comprising a sketch of a first visual token of a set of visual tokens, wherein the first visual token is descriptive of a graphical user interface (GUI) and is interpretable to provide first GUI instructions to be executed to provide the GUI during a performance of a job flow; employ a neural network to interpret sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify, from among the set of visual tokens, a first visual token represented by the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network is trained to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input to at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; the set of visual tokens comprises at least one object token that represents either a command to display details of an object of a set of objects on a specified page of the GUI, or a command to display a list of objects within the set of objects on a specified page of the GUI; the set of objects comprises a job flow definition that defines the job flow, at least one task routine that is executed during a performance of the job flow, and at least one data object; and the set of objects is stored within at least one federated area maintained within one or more storage devices, and to which access is authorized during the performance of the job flow; and in response to the identification, by the neural network, of the first visual token as a first object token within the set of visual tokens, perform operations comprising: generate first GUI instructions to perform a command correlated by the neural network to the first object token; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command is to be performed in providing the GUI as part of performing the job flow; in response to identification, by the neural network, of text that specifies the page, incorporate an indication of the page as associated with the first object token into the first GUI instructions; augment the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and store the job flow definition, following augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions, within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the job flow definition with the first GUI instructions in support of the performance of the job flow and the provision of the GUI.
 12. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein: a display to visually present the first sketch input is co-located with the input device; and the processor is caused to perform operations comprising: visually present portions of a first sketch based on the first sketch input at a first location on the display as corresponding portions of the first sketch input are received from the input device to provide visual feedback of the first sketch input to an operator as the operator provides the first sketch input to the input device; and following identification of at least the first visual token by the neural network, cease the visual presentation of the first sketch on the display, and visually present a graphical rendering of the first visual token in place of the first sketch at the first location to provide a visual indication to the operator of successful identification of the first visual token.
 13. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the processor is caused to perform operations including: place the neural network into a training mode to refine the training of the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input of a selected operator to the at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; receive second sketch input that originates from the selected operator; train the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of the second sketch input to a selected second visual token of the set of visual tokens; and store, after completion of the training mode, neural network configuration data that defines the neural network within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the neural network configuration data in support of employing the neural network to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network configuration data specifies a hyperparameter comprising at least one of a quantity of artificial neurons within the neural network or a quantity of rows of the artificial neurons into which the artificial neurons are organized within the neural network; and the neural network configuration data also specifies a trained parameter comprising at least one of weight values of the artificial neurons, bias values of the artificial neurons or firing patterns of the artificial neurons.
 14. The computer-program product of claim 13, wherein: the input device captures the entry of the first sketch input as an image of the first sketch input; the processor is caused to provide the image of the first sketch input as an input to the neural network; and the neural network comprises a convolution neural network that employs visual recognition to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input.
 15. The computer-program product of claim 13, wherein: the input device comprises a pressure sensor to detect an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input, or a touch sensor to detect a location of a tip of a stylus or a tip of a digit of an operator during entry of the first sketch input; and the characteristics of the first sketch input comprise at least one of: an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a pattern of change in the amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a velocity of movement of a point of contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input; an angle of a change in direction of movement of the point of contact during entry of the first sketch input; or a break in contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input.
 16. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to a lack of identification of text that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command represented by the first object token is to be performed, perform operations comprising: identify, on a display that is co-located with the input device, a second object token that is visually presented at a second location on the display closest to a first location at which the first object token is visually presented, and that is associated with a page of the GUI on which a command represented by the second object token is to be performed; and incorporate, into the first GUI instructions, an indication that the page that is associated with the second object token is also associated with the first object token.
 17. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, perform operations comprising: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the sketch input that identifies the job flow definition or that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition; in response to identification of text that identifies the job flow definition, retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and in response to identification of text that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition, perform operations comprising: retrieve the instance log from a federated area of the one or more federated areas; retrieve an identifier of the job flow definition from the instance log; and retrieve the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 18. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display details of a specific object, perform operations comprising: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the specific object; and in response to identification of text that identifies the specific object, incorporate an indication of the specific object into the first GUI instructions prior to the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 19. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display a list of objects, perform operations comprising: employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list; and in response to identification of text that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list, incorporate an indication of the identity of the objects to be displayed in the list or the criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list into the first GUI instructions prior to augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 20. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein: the set of visual tokens comprises at least one action token that represents either a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of a specified input, or a command to perform an action defined by an object of the set of objects in response to receipt of specified input; and the processor is caused to, in response to the identification of the first visual token as a first action token that represents a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of at least one specified input, perform operations comprising: generate second GUI instructions to perform the command represented by the first action token; identify an object token that is at least partially overlain by the first action token on a display that is co-located with the input device and that visually presents the first sketch input; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of a page of the GUI that is associated with the overlain object token as a page of the two specified pages that is jumped from; employ the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies another page of the two specified pages that is jumped to; incorporate, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of the page that is jumped to; and augment the job flow definition that defines the job flow to include the second GUI instructions.
 21. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a processor, first sketch input from an input device comprising a sketch of a first visual token of a set of visual tokens, wherein the first visual token is descriptive of a graphical user interface (GUI) and is interpretable to provide first GUI instructions to be executed to provide the GUI during a performance of a job flow; employing a neural network to interpret sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify, from among the set of visual tokens, a first visual token represented by the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network is trained to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input to at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; the set of visual tokens comprises at least one object token that represents either a command to display details of an object of a set of objects on a specified page of the GUI, or a command to display a list of objects within the set of objects on a specified page of the GUI; the set of objects comprises a job flow definition that defines the job flow, at least one task routine that is executed during a performance of the job flow, and at least one data object; and the set of objects is stored within at least one federated area maintained within one or more storage devices, and to which access is authorized during the performance of the job flow; and in response to the identification, by the neural network, of the first visual token as a first object token within the set of visual tokens, performing operations comprising: generating first GUI instructions to perform a command correlated by the neural network to the first object token; employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command is to be performed in providing the GUI as part of performing the job flow; in response to identification, by the neural network, of text that specifies the page, incorporating an indication of the page as associated with the first object token into the first GUI instructions; augmenting the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and storing the job flow definition, following augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions, within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the job flow definition with the first GUI instructions in support of the performance of the job flow and the provision of the GUI.
 22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein: a display to visually present the first sketch input is co-located with the input device; and the method comprises: visually presenting portions of a first sketch based on the first sketch input at a first location on the display as corresponding portions of the first sketch input are received from the input device to provide visual feedback of the first sketch input to an operator as the operator provides the first sketch input to the input device; and following identification of at least the first visual token by the neural network, ceasing the visual presentation of the first sketch on the display, and visually presenting a graphical rendering of the first visual token in place of the first sketch at the first location to provide a visual indication to the operator of successful identification of the first visual token.
 23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, comprising: placing the neural network into a training mode to refine the training of the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of sketch input of a selected operator to the at least one visual token of the set of visual tokens; receiving second sketch input that originates from the selected operator; training the neural network to correlate sketch characteristics of the second sketch input to a selected second visual token of the set of visual tokens; and storing, after completion of the training mode, neural network configuration data that defines the neural network within a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable access to the neural network configuration data in support of employing the neural network to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input, wherein: the neural network configuration data specifies a hyperparameter comprising at least one of a quantity of artificial neurons within the neural network or a quantity of rows of the artificial neurons into which the artificial neurons are organized within the neural network; and the neural network configuration data also specifies a trained parameter comprising at least one of weight values of the artificial neurons, bias values of the artificial neurons or firing patterns of the artificial neurons.
 24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein: the input device captures the entry of the first sketch input as an image of the first sketch input; the method comprises providing the image of the first sketch input as an input to the neural network; and the neural network comprises a convolution neural network that employs visual recognition to interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input.
 25. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein: the input device comprises a pressure sensor to detect an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input, or a touch sensor to detect a location of a tip of a stylus or a tip of a digit of an operator during entry of the first sketch input; and the characteristics of the first sketch input comprise at least one of: an amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a pattern of change in the amount of pressure applied during entry of the first sketch input; a velocity of movement of a point of contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input; an angle of a change in direction of movement of the point of contact during entry of the first sketch input; or a break in contact with the input device during entry of the first sketch input.
 26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, comprising, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to a lack of identification of text that specifies a page of the GUI that is to be associated with the first object token and on which the command represented by the first object token is to be performed, performing operations comprising: identifying, on a display that is co-located with the input device, a second object token that is visually presented at a second location on the display closest to a first location at which the first object token is visually presented, and that is associated with a page of the GUI on which a command represented by the second object token is to be performed; and incorporating, into the first GUI instructions, an indication that the page that is associated with the second object token is also associated with the first object token.
 27. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, comprising, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, performing operations comprising: employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the sketch input that identifies the job flow definition or that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition; in response to identification of text that identifies the job flow definition, retrieving the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions; and in response to identification of text that identifies an instance log generated during a previous performance of the job flow definition, performing operations comprising: retrieving the instance log from a federated area of the one or more federated areas; retrieving an identifier of the job flow definition from the instance log; and retrieving the job flow definition from a federated area of the one or more federated areas to enable the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 28. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, comprising, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display details of a specific object, performing operations comprising: employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the specific object; and in response to identification of text that identifies the specific object, incorporating an indication of the specific object into the first GUI instructions prior to the augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 29. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, comprising, in response to the identification of the first visual token as the first object token, and in response to the first object token representing a command to display a list of objects, performing operations comprising: employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list; and in response to identification of text that identifies the objects to be displayed in the list or that specifies criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list, incorporating an indication of the identity of the objects to be displayed in the list or the criteria for identifying the objects to be displayed in the list into the first GUI instructions prior to augmentation of the job flow definition to include the first GUI instructions.
 30. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein: the set of visual tokens comprises at least one action token that represents either a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of a specified input, or a command to perform an action defined by an object of the set of objects in response to receipt of specified input; and the method comprises, in response to the identification of the first visual token as a first action token that represents a command to jump between two specified pages of the GUI in response to receipt of at least one specified input, performing operations comprising: generating second GUI instructions to perform the command represented by the first action token; identifying an object token that is at least partially overlain by the first action token on a display that is co-located with the input device and that visually presents the first sketch input; incorporating, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of a page of the GUI that is associated with the overlain object token as a page of the two specified pages that is jumped from; employing the neural network to further interpret the sketch characteristics of the first sketch input to identify text included in the first sketch input that specifies another page of the two specified pages that is jumped to; incorporating, into the second GUI instructions, an indication of the page that is jumped to; and augmenting the job flow definition that defines the job flow to include the second GUI instructions. 